


All I Ask

by LaraSosa



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 24,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25254814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaraSosa/pseuds/LaraSosa
Summary: Jen starts a story with the King of Hell. Everything seems to be perfect at the beginning, what makes her sometimes forget that he is a demon. Her love for him is big enough to work through her insecurities and fear, but Is his love for her big enough to overpower his demonic instincts?
Relationships: Crowley (Supernatural)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 21





	1. Routine

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!  
> This is my first work, and through the reading, you'll realize that English is not my first language, so I ask you to please tell me if there are too many grammatical errors in here and how to improve my writing. I would really appreciate it.
> 
> I kind of wanted to do a slow burn thing in here, so I'd be able to get familiar with writing Crowley as best as I can.  
> I'm trying to do short chapters so it won't be tiring.  
> I promise I'm trying my best to write everything properly; Characters, grammar, and storyline.
> 
> Anyway...  
> I hope you like it. <3

It was the distant noise of a car honk that woke her up. She reached for her phone and looked the hour: It was half past seven already! She didn’t hear her alarm at five o’clock, like she’d planned. The worst part was that her fist class would begin at eight. _“Damn you, community college.”_ She thought to herself “ _If I were in a private school, the dorms would be very nice in moments like this.”_

Longing for death, she dragged herself up to get ready for the day as quickly as possible. Just after a shower, she decided to wear the first thing she saw in her closet, a long and loose blue dress with spaghetti straps. She putted her hair on a quick bun and rushed through. She couldn’t lose today’s class, it was her favorite! She was taking economy class, but she didn’t even know the reason why. She couldn’t not stand the classes, the colleagues or the professors; even the place was gray, boring and insignificant. But all of it was a good reason to make her mother believe that she was, somehow, thinking in some kind of a future, even though she missed lots of classes and spent most of her time outside of the college reading and drawing.

Before exiting through the door, Jen looked around for her mother, _“That’s news”_ she thought sarcastically. The moments that she could spend with her mother were rare, once her mother were always traveling around because of work. And after her father’s passing, the travels got longer and more frequent. Sometimes Jen felt that any other thing in the world was more important to her mom than she was, but she loved her mother nonetheless and she was always trying to spend as much time as possible with her. After chugging down a cup of coffee, she grabbed her notebook, a couple of books, and rushed towards the door. Reaching the bus stop, she saw the bus she needed leaving, she would have to wait for the next one. She would arrive much more late than she had anticipated.

Arriving at college, she saw Ms. Celia, her favorite professor, had just finished the class in her room. Jen had just missed her favorite class of the whole week, so to her, it was no use continuing to watch the other classes for the rest of the day – or any other day to be honest. She took her backpack, and went to find a place to herself in the gardens. She took one of the three books she was carrying: Supernatural, by Carver Edlund. She sat on the floor, leaned against a wall and read the one named “Bugs”. After her reading, she looked at the cover for a little moment, appreciating the figures, before pressing it against her chest, _“How I wish you were real…”_ She wished from the bottom of her heart.

And sitting there, she spent the rest of her day fantasizing about living as a hunter, hunting with the Winchesters and facing all possible kinds of threat that she’d read about along the years. “Please be real.”, she asked again before getting up to come back to her home, on the same toxic routine as always.


	2. FBI - I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I know, its a Crowley fic. And I swear he'll be on the next chapter. Or the next next one.  
> 
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> Hope you like it <3

Another Day had begun and Jen could already see how it was going to be. Every day, everything was exactly the same; she would wake up at five, take a shower, she would try to doll up the Best she could – based on what her humor would allow – she would look for her mother, her mother would be nowhere to be seen, she would take a cup of coffee or tea, almost as the same time she rushed out of the door. She would GO to the bus stop at the end of the street, take a bus downtown, arrive at college right before 8 AM, would attend to boring classes class until 1 PM, would come back home, watch TV or read a book, do some cleaning – IF she judge necessary, do her homework, IF that was the case, and when she would look at the clock again, it would already be tem o’clock. So, she would go to bed, sleep, and repeat all this process the next day.

Jennifer didn’t have many friends, in fact, she had only one: Alexander. Alex has been her best friend for years, but in their relationship, she was the shy one, because while she had only him as a friend, he had a giant social circle. She liked to think that she was his favorite friend, but whenever he invited her to go gout with a large group of people, she would often choose her books instead. After all, Supernatural was a giant collection and she was sure that she could read it all twice ultill the end of th semester. So, the biggest part of her time, she did nothing but read. Sometimes she casually would go for a jog, that consisted basically in “running” to the nearest ice cream shop, have a chocolate sundae, and come back home walking.

Arriving at the college, she didn’t find her friend in there, and since lunch break, she decided to not return to class, instead, she locked herself in one of the last bathroom stalls, put her headphone on, and started to draw. After a handful of songs, she got a notification and the music stopped. While her phones were silent, she could hear some screams from afar, she thought it was nothing, but the screams only got louder. She ran towards the noise, to maybe try to help somehow. She heard the sound once more and it was coming from the parking lot. When she got there, she saw a silver car with the front door open, approaching even more, she saw her professor Ms. Celia, on the floor, covered in blood. It looked like Celia was attacked by some kind of wild animal. She couldn’t do much, she was in shock. The only thing she managed to do was scream for help. She stood there, eyes closed, she only opened them again when she heard sirens noise. A little crowd had already gathered around the place, and someone was talking something to her, but she could not quite hear it. She just looked away from the horrible scene in front of her and about thirty feet from where she was standing, a men, dressed in black caught her attention. He seemed interested in what was going on, and he had an unsettling smirk on his face. Even though he was far, the expression on his face was enough to send a shiver down Jen’s spine when she felt his eyes on her. And before she could even think about it, the man was gone. The only thing that rossed her mind was that maybe she was getting crazy.

It didn’t take long for the cops starting to ask all sort of things. After all, she was there, alone, a couple of feet from a dead body. After explaining countless times everything and everyone being sure that she wasn’t a murderer, they took her to an ambulance to get checked due to the shock. Right after a police officer telling her that she could go home, two man approached her:

“Excuse us, but are you Ms. Constance?” A tall man with long dark hair asked her.

She nodded in agreement.

“Why?” She asked in a broken voice.

He took a badge out of his pocket and showed her, FBI.

“I’m sorry, but can you tell us what happened?”


	3. FBI - II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

“I’m sorry, but... but I already told the cops everything.” Jen was scared, the FBI could think of her as a suspect

  
“Girl, you know that withholding information is a crime, right?” The partner of the first Guy says. This one seemed less friendly. So the taller agent intervened.

“We know that, but we would like to talk directly to you, if that’s okay.”

Jen took a deep breath and started:

“I was in the bathroom when everything happened...” The agents looked at each other awkwardly. She continued “I sometimes spend some time in there, I Just wanted somewhere quiet to think. – She took a moment to stop herself from crying.

“Rough day?” The less friendly guy said offering her a somewhat comforting smile.

“Well, it’s not getting any easier...” She said wiping away a couple of tears.

“Please, continue.” The other agent asked.

“I heard screams and I followed then, when I got in the parking lot, Ms Celia was on the floor and there was… all… all that blood…” Jen started crying again.

“It’s okay. Thank you. You helped a lot” The shorter agent Said while weirdly tapping her in the back.

Both of them mentioned to leave when the first agent, the taller one, came back and asked:

“Sorry, Ms. Constance, but do you know if Ms. Celia had any enemies?” She

nodded in a negative motion. “Did you see anything, like shadows, heard anything, or smelled anything like rotten eggs or anything? Anything could help right now.”

Jen again nodded a negative answer. She raised her hands to her face, trying to calm herself, and understand their weird questions. She heard one of them murmuring a ‘thank you’ when she remembered something:

“Excuse me?” She called to get their attention. They stopped walking and turned back to her “There was this guy, I don’t know if this is important and I’m not even sure I actually saw him, but he was kind of near when I got here.”

“A guy? What was he like?” The shorter one asked.

“I didn’t get a close look, he was near, but not so near… but he didn’t look scared. To be honest, I think he might be smiling, but he was far. I don’t know if this helps, but… He was dressed all in black.”

Both of the agents looked at each other, like a secret that only they knew.

“Alright. That was really helpful, thank you.” He handed Jen a little business card. Agent Lutz- “We’ll be here in town for a few more days, anything happens, don’t hesitate to call us.”

And with that they left.   
  


After everything, Jen could finally go home.

On her way home, everything she could think of was telling her mother about what had happened, receive a big motherly hug and hear the words ‘everything is alright’.

When she got home, she saw the kitchen light on and hope filled her heart imagining that her mom would be home waiting for her. And when she noticed her mother’s car in the garage, she knew it was the moment to let herself slow down.

When she got inside, she noticed the kitchen radio on, pans and cook pots on the counter, waiting to be used. The house was a mess. He knew she didn’t exactly cleaned the house an awfully lot, but she was sure that there was no hurricane passing by while she was gone. Jen called for her mother a couple of times and got no answer. Even though the unusual, it would not be the first time her mom got home after a business trip and went right out to run some errand. So Jen came to the conclusion that her mom was going to cook, forgot something and went after it on some grocery store. She didn’t gave it much more thought, the day had been long and all she wanted was to take a shower and tell her mom about what had happened over a nice meal.

After her shower, she waited a little for her mother. Hungry got the best of her, so she dined a cold pizza slice on the fridge, locked the door and went to bed. She would take care of the mess in the kitchen on the next day, a new day. _‘A better day’_ she thought to herself while falling asleep.

A few hours later, the ringing of her phone woke her up. It was her mother:

“Jennifer, Jen, is that you?” Her mom sounded scared.’

“Mom, is everything fine? Where are you? The house is a mess...” Jen Said trying to wake herself up.

“Jen, pay attention: There is a little gray covered notebook in my closet. It has phone number on the cover. Call the only number written in blue.”

“Mom? What’s going on?”

“Jennifer, do as I told you. You’re not safe.” Her mom’s voice sounded weird, as if she’d been crying.

“When will you come back?” Jen was starting to get too scared.

“That’s an order. Do it as quickly as possible.”

“Who should I call to?”

“Just do it, Jen.” – Her mother’s voice started to fade away. “I love you, baby.”  
Before she could even answer, the call ended. For several minutes she stood there, paralyzed, crying, thinking that her blankets would protect her from any harm, and wondering what could have happened to her mother. As her tears began to dry, she gained courage. She went to her mother’s room, got the little notebook and dialed on her phone the numbers written in blue.

“Hello. Who’s this?” She heard a men’s voice on the other end.

“Hi… My mom told me to call you”

“What’s your name?”

“Jennifer.”

“Who’s your mother?”

“Maeve…” She almost whispered, unsure of what to do.

“Okay. We’re heading there.”

The call ended.

Jen stood there, sitting on her couch. About forty minutes later she heard a car, looked through the window and saw two men coming out. _“Wait. Are those the FBI guys?”_ She wondered. Seconds after that, she heard a knock on her front door.


	4. Ghosts are real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Jen looked through the window once more before opening the door. She could not think a reason why her mom would give her the number of some FBI agent.

She opened the door a few inches to ask them:

“Aren’t you the FBI agents?”

“Are you Jennifer, Maeve’s daughter?” The man with darker hair asked her.

She nodded in agreement and opened the door for them. Seconds later, she was sitting back on the couch while the two men stared at her hugging tightly a cushion.

“Earlier today, you said your last name is Constance.” The men with shorter hair asked.

“My mom told me to always use her maiden name, instead of my father’s.”

“Scout?” He asked her.

Jen agreed before continuing.

“Why would my mom give me the Fed’s number?”

The two men looked at each other like they were deciding who was going to answer her. The darker haired one answered:

“Look, Jen… May I call you Jen?” When she gave no answer he continued “We are friends of your mother. And if she told you to call us, you might be in danger.”

“But why the FBI?”

“Look, it’s hard to explain…” He gave her a awkward smile, while running one of his hand to the back of his neck, like he was trying to buy himself some time before continuing to answer. “We are not really FBI, not actually.”

“So who the hell are you? Until now, Jen thought she was in the presence of the law. Now, things had taken a weird turn. Shorter man rolled his eyes before interrupting the one who was looking for a explanation.

“I am Dean,” He pointed to himself, “and this is my brother Sam Winchester.”

Jennifer’s eyes open wide and she almost jumped from her spot on the couch, rushing to the back of it.

“No. You’re not.” She said not believing a single word of what he was saying. She read the book, but they are only books after all, right?

“Yes, we are.”

“There’s no way you are them.” Sam tried reaching out for her hand, but she pulled away.

“What do you mean by that?” Dean asked a little frustrated.

“Sam and Dean aren’t real. They are character of a book.”

“Yes, yes, we know, Supernatural, a bunch of books. Look, there are some more important things going on. We need to go. We can talk on the road.” Dean told her while standing up, ready to go back to his car.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. How can I possibly believe you?

“The car outside, you must recognize it, right?” Sam asked her. Jen looked through the window. She saw parked on her driveway the so unique Chevrolet Impala 1967.

“You must be big fans, I suppose.” She said back to Sam.

“Jennifer, think, please. If this is a lie, why would your mom asked you to call us?” Sam tried convincing her.

“Why would my mom do anything? I barely see her.”

“What does your mother do for a living?” Dean asked her.

“She travels a lot. Something about Sales.”

“Your mom is a hunter. Both your parents were. Maeve and Josiah Scout, big shot hunters.” Dean gave her a second before continuing. “Our dad, John, you know him from the books. Our parents were friends. You never found it weird never having a ‘bring your daughter to work day’ or never meeting one of her coworkers?”

Tears began running down her face. She started to wonder what might have happened to her mother to all of this so suddenly. She have read the books, she knew what happens to most hunters.

“What happened with my mother?” She asked looking up at them.

“Honestly? We don’t know. But if she told you cal us, is probably serious. You must be in danger and we need to leave here as soon as possible.” Sam said gently.

In that same moments, the lights began to flicker and a figure magically appeared in the middle of Jen’s living room. She rushed behind Sam Jen and watched.

“Hello, boys.” The man Said in a smooth voice. Dean automatically pulled his gun and pointed it to the man.

“Sam, Sam!” Jen whispered trying to get his attention “I think that’s the man I saw earlier today.”

“Jennifer, this is Crowley.

Before she could answer anything, Crowley already had crossed the room, reached for her hand and laid a gentle Kiss on the back of her hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jennifer Scout. Crowley.” He said pointing at her, them at him. “King of Hell, at your service.”

“Cut the crap, Crowley! What do you want?” Dean Said angry, still holding his gun.

“What do you mean?! You know that this is the Scout’s child?”

“We know that. So?”

“So… - Crowley said impersonating Dean. “I’m going to take her with me, to hell.” Jen’s eyes opened wide. She had no intentions on going to hell.

“The hell you are! She’s not going anywhere with you. Besides, we got here first.”

“Dean, please! This is no 5th grade when who saw first gets the girl.”  
“She’s coming with us. Her mother told her to call us. Your name wasn’t in anywhere”

“Her mother, yes. Maeve, isn’t it? Lovely woman. Met her couple of years ago, she was trying to kill me. We had so much fun back then.” Crowley Said with a smirk while Dean rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I think the girl is the one to decide.”

“Decide what?” Jen asked in a slow voice, still half hidden behind Sam.

“Decide who you want to be with, sweetheart. Decide your own fate” He approached Jen, taking a handkerchief from his pocket and drying some tears that insisted in run down her face. “What do you prefer: Option A, stay with the brute things over there, spending your days running away from ridiculous things, or, option B, come live with me, in Hell, where you’ll always be safe and won’t have to worry about anything? Because you know, King of Hell… You could have some perks being my little princess.” Crowley told her with a cocky smirk.

The silence was huge, no one talked and everyone looked at her. Dean was motioning to shoot the demon, while Sam was trying to calm his brother down, avoiding causing the girl any more stress.

Jen remembered every single detail from the books, and she knew Crowley was a manipulative liar from hell, and when she putted it that way, it sounded simple enough. But he had something that was pulling her towards him. She could feel it. She should choose the gentle boys that helped her and had her mother’s trust, but Crowley didn’t seem to lie, but he said her mother did try to kill him, maybe he was after revenge. She knew the books, she knew the character, Sam and Dean were the smart choice, and they weren’t demons. But she wanted to know why the demon seemed to be so mesmerizing. She probably should make a decision, everyone was looking at her.

“So, darling, what is going to be, little old me here, or the giant checkerboard there?” Crowley asked extending his hand to Jen.

She needed to give them an answer.


	5. A decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Jen looked to the boys and then to Crowley, as much as she wished to Just go away with the demon and figure it out what is it that he has that makes him so enticing, she knew what she had to do and she also knew to never ignore one of her mother’s orders. Choosing her words carefully, she took a deep breath and said:

“Sorry, Mr. Crowley, but my mother gave me their number to call. She wants me with them. I cannot go over one of her order.  
“Well… Your loss, darling.” He said putting his extended hand back into his pocket and rolling his eyes. “When you get tired of the giants of there, give me a call.” And with a snap of his finger, he was gone.

Jen was feeling confused. She could barely understand what was happening. She was standing there, the only thoughts on her mind were her favorite characters coming to life and her mother’s missing. She thought she might be in actual danger after all. It was one of those nights when nothing could go more wrong.

“Well, she should hit the road.” Dean said.

“Where are we going?”

“Luckily you don’t live so far away from us” Sam answered and Dean continued: You are coming with us. We can’t risk leaving a Scout on their own, especially now that Crowley seems to be after you. Pack some of your stuff, what you’ll need for a couple of weeks, so we can be going.”  
Jen gave him a slight nod and went packing.

She did a small bag with clothes, toothbrush, phone charger, a couple of books and went to meet the boys in the living room.  
  


Earlier that day she had a feeling that things couldn’t get worse, now, not knowing when she would be able to come back home, she was sure that everything could always get worse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the back seat of the Impala, Jen quietly played something on her phone. She was rewinding the whole day on her head, starting with the horrible death of one of her favorite teachers, and ending on the fact that right now, she found herself on the back seat of her favorite car. She always dreamed to be in that position, on the back seat of that car, but right now, things look far from a dream and more like a sadistic nightmare. She was lost in her own silence when Sam managed to get her attention:

“Jennifer, how are you holding up?”

“Today has a horrible day. Look, guys, please, don’t take it the bad way, I’m happy for you being here, helping me out, but I’m still hoping to wake up any minute since the moment I saw my dead professor.”  
“thing will get better, I promise.” He said with an empathetic smile.

“I sure hope so, I just found out my favorite characters are real, and that they know my parents, who by the way, lied to me my whole life and hunt monsters. There was a demon in my living room, asking me to go to hell. I think that’s enough emotions for just one day.” She said trying to get more comfortable in the backseat.

“The girl got a point.” Said Dean.

The path they were driving by seemed dark and endless. Looking through the window, she could see nothing but miles of woods. Right when she made her mind they might not actually get the anytime sooner, the car came to a stop. They got off the car and she suddenly found herself inside the bunker. The place looked huge, just like a military base, buried to the ground. A part of her was happy that she could be sharing that moment with her heroes, but she knew that wasn’t her home.

”Come on, let me show you your room” Sam told her. He took her to one of the bunker’s room. There was a bed right in the middle of the room, a side door that probably led to a bathroom and a dresser so she could storage her things. She set her bag down on the bed and took a breath of air, the smell in there was different, not bad, but the air seemed different. Dean showed up at the door, leaning against it saying:

“Make yourself comfortable, here’s going to be your home for as long as you need it to be. And try not worrying about your mom; we are going to find her.” Jen gave him a tired smile, but her smile seemed sadder than anything else.

“Now we’re going to let you settle in, try to get some rest. Good night, if you need anything, please, call us.” Sam said. He and Dean started leaving the room when they heard Jen’s soft voice:

“Guys…” They looked at her “I just wanted to say thank you. Going home, bringing me here, and looking after me today… Really. Thank you.” And with those words, she hugged each one of them for some seconds.

“Anything for a friend.” Dean said with a sweet wink. And with that, they left her alone in the room.

It had been a long day, and considering everything that had just happened, Jen felt calm. Sam and Dean gave her a sense of peace, a feeling that ‘everything will be alright’. Now she needed rest, tomorrow would be a new and long day, she was sure of it. After all, now she was living with the Winchesters and anything could happen from now on.


	6. A new life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Even though Jen didn’t have much sleep that night, she was still feeling renewed on the next morning. She jumped out of bed, and after a quick shower, she made her way to the bunker’s main room in hope to find someone. After finding no one, she followed some sounds of a long corridor, finding herself on a big kitchen. Dean was there, making some pancakes and bacon. While cooking, Dean was sipping from a beer bottle, and at a table next to him, thre was Sam, with his computer. Some rock station played in a low volume on the background.

“Hey! Good morning.” Dean saluted. “We were wondering when you’d wake up. Want some pancakes?” He asked her raising a plate in her direction.

“Sure. Thank you. Those are looking so good.” She said taking a seat across from Sam.

“So did you sleep well?” Sam asked.

“Yeah…” She answered while taking a bite of the pancakes Dean has placed in front of her. “Here is quiet, so different from where I live.”

“Here it really is. The shower is amazing too.” Dean Said to her while taking a big chug on his beer and spilling a bit on his shirt.

“Please forgive my brother, He hás a drinking problem. But considering you read the books, you already knew that.” Sam said slightly annoyed with the fact that his brother was drinking so soon in the morning.

“Hey, you are the one with a drinking problem! You… you… Dirty diaper face!” Dean answered his brother.

“Aaand that’s the Best He can do.” The younger Winchester answered taking a sip of his coffee

Jen laughed at their behavior while they continued to Exchange insults. They were exactly as she had pictured.

After the breakfast was over, Dean was the first one to break the silence:

“So, Jennifer, what do you know about a hunter’s life?”

“Hum... Not much. I know what I’ve read in the books.”

“Well, you already have the theory. It’s a start…” Said Sam

“We should get you on action!” Dean said excited.

“Actually, we should start a looking for Maeve. You know, Jen’s mom? Besides, we cannot have a missing Scout.” Sam Said with a frown.

All the time, Jen heard someone mentioning her last name. Scout was only a last name, as long as she could recall, there was nothing special about it. But what she knew of everything after all? Her whole life had been a lie.

“Umm, boys, what do you mean with ‘missing Scout’? Crowley talked about it too... Is my family important somehow?” 

“They really left you in the dark about all of it.” Jen agreed with Dean with a nod.

“Have you ever heard anything about the Scout Code?” Sam asked for an answer that never same, so he continued: “You father, Josiah, He worked his whole life on this book. It is one of those things that we all heard about it, but no one has ever seen it.”

“Just like bigfoot.” Dean completed with a smile. Sam continued ignoring his brother:

“Anyway, this book contains solutions to all kinds of problem, all kinds of creature. It is a book of spells. Spells that require simple things, easy ingredients, usual stuff, and your dad created it.”

“Are you trying to tell me that my dad was a wizard?”

“No. I mean... He was Just a very smart Guy. He took all of these complicated spells and turned them into these simple things. With that, you don’t even need to be a great witch to be able to use them. It is a easy way to hunt and kill, or do anything actually.”

“Easy ingredients, same results. Truly the perfect generic bomb.” Dean Said.

“That’s why we can’t have your mother missing. We don’t know what might be after her to get their hands on this book.” Sam added.

That was way more information than Jen could handle. Her parents being hunter was one thing, but discovering that her last name held such power, was a complete shock. Her parents always seemed to be so ordinary, very hardworking, sure, but normal people. And to think that because of this new mythological book her mother was in danger… It wasn’t something that she could process easily.

“I know it’s a lot to think about, but you have to stay calm. We need your help to find your mother, and judging by the way things were looking yesterday, Crowley must be after her too. So, we don’t need to just find her, but we also need to be the first ones to find her, alright?” Sam asked to the girl that in that moment had no facial expression.

Jen gave him a small smile. After all, they were right, now was the time to focus on her fist hunting mission: Finding her mother.


	7. Shooting Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

It was another day and yet no one had heard anything about Maeve Scout.

Dean e Sam had told to other Hunter about Maeve’s missing, and not only hunters, but many other creatures were looking for her. Jen was worried about her mother, but at the same time, every passing minute made her hopes diminished. Sensing the Young girl’s sadness, Sam made a proposal:

“Jen,” - He called and she rose her eyes from her coffee mug, looking at him “I was wondering... Maybe, while we are looking for your mother, it could be useful for you to gain a little more practical knowledge about hunting. So, I thought that you could practice some shooting today.

“Really?” Jen and Dean said together, both excited.

“Yeah, I mean… Is a nice, sunny day outside. I have some more research to do, so I was thinking that you and Dean could go for it. It would be nice for the two of you to get some fresh air, and Dean is really good with this kind of thing, and – “

“You damn bet I am!” Dean interrupted his brother. “One day with me, and you’ll be considered a professional sniper.”

Jen laughed at his comment.

“So, it’s all set. You two go after breakfast.”Sam concluded.

“So I better get ready!” Jen ran away from the table towards her room.

While she slipped on her “Hunter uniform” that consisted in a old pair of jeans, a flannel shirt, and a pair of black boots; in the kitchen, Dean thanked Sam for giving him a break from research and shared his plans with his little brother

“Good luck with her.” Sam Said playfully when Jean appeared with the biggest grin on her face.

“Come on, Sammy! I’m a professional.” Dean Said grabbing a pack of beers and heading to his Baby. He was very excited about passing his knowledge on.

They drove about half hour when they reached an open Field. Dean sometimes went there on his day off to practice his shooting too. Dean positioned lots of empty cans everywhere; tree stumps, branches, tree trunks, everything he might have at disposition. He gave Jen a small gun, great for practicing before explaining:

“This is the safety, this is the trigger and this one is where you put the bullets.” He said showing every part of the gun.

“And what do I do now?” She asked a little lost with the explanation.

“You aim for the cans and pull the trigger.” He asked simply with a wink.

The fist tries were horrible, she missed every single shot. Every time she missed a shot, she thought she might have shot someone miles from there, and Dean tried to explain that that was not how guns worked.

They spent all day in the field, only taking a break to lunch, were they ate sandwiches and Dean shared stories of old hunts to make the girl laugh. Jen didn’t stop shooting and by the time they were to leave, Jean was hitting almost half of her targets.

“I think we can call it a day. It’s getting dark.” Dean Said.

“Sure. Can we do this again another time? I really enjoyed it.”

“Sure we can! It’s nice to ‘feed young minds.” He said with a playful wink. Jen smiled and thanked him for the Day.

Arriving at the Bunker, they both went to the main room. There, they found Crowley, sat at the table, with his characteristic glass of Craig in one hand. Jen jumped a little when she saw him, realizing that, the demon smirk to himself. Dean threw his gun bag on the floor and with a sigh asked:

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dean quickly scanned the room, searching for his brother, who was nowhere to be found. “And where the hell is Sam?”

Crowley Just smirked, taking one more sip of the amber drink in his glass.


	8. Proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

“What do you want, Crowley?” Dean asked very annoyed.

“Do I need a reason to pay a visit to my favorite Hunter?” When Dean didn’t give any answer to the demon’s sarcasm, he continued: “Don’t you wish to know how I got in here?”

“I don’t give a damn about how you got in, but if you don’t spit it out, I’ll make sure you won’t get out.”

“Why always so dominating, Dean?” Crowley said resting his glass on the table. “I’m here to do what I do best, deals. And about your brother, he wasn’t here when I arrived.”

“Alright, you want to make a deal. What makes you think I’m interested?”

“Who said anything about you?” Dean raised his eyebrows questioning the demon. Crowley rose from his seat and walked until he was face to face with Jennifer.

“How’s search for mommy going?” Before giving any answers, Jen looked at Dean like she was asking for permission to say anything. Dean slightly nodded in agreement.

“It’s not great, but we do have hope...” she answered softly.

“Oh, sure, hope! You should hold on to that, otherwise, what would you have left, right?”

“Sorry?” Jen asked confused.

“You are far from home, from your life; your college, your friends, work, and more important: Without mommy dearest. What do you have besides hope?”

Jen didn’t have an answer for that; she had never looked at it that way. Sure, some things have changed, but she was taking one day at time, without much thought to the whole scenery and her only goal was to find her mom and go back to her normal routine. Now, she was thinking if this could actually be possible.

“Hey, hey! You crawled out of Hell Just to mess with her head?” Dean asked angrily.

“ _Au contraire_ , Dean-o. Since one can only imagine all of the failures that your little depressive entourage to find Maeve is achieving, I came here to offer a solution.”

“What solution?” Jen asked.

“Your mom, on the door of this hole that ‘Uno e Dos’ call a home, safe and sound.

“What do I need to do?” Jen asked moving closer to the demon, excited about the new opportunity.

“What do you think? Jen, you’re smarter than this. What do you think Crowley wants?” Dean said putting himself between the girl and the demon.

“Oh…” She stopped for a moment. “My soul, right?” She said more affirmation than question.

Dean nodded in agreement.

“That’s where you’re wrong, my dear. I don’t want the girl’s soul.”

“So what do you want, the Code?” Dean turned to Crowley.

“No. I just want to take very good care of her. But not in here, in Hell, for undetermined time, of course.

“I don’t get it, what is in for you in all of this?”

“The satisfaction of living with a very altruistic heart.” Crowley said dripping sarcasm in every word.

“Please! Like you have a heart…”

“You wound me with your words, Dean.” Crowley said raising a hand to his chest, mocking at the younger man. “Anyway, I’m not here to strength our bonds. As much as adore your companion, Dean, I have a Hell to raise. My proposal to you is still the same, Jennifer, your mother here, safe and sound. Just give me a call whenever you feel up to it.” He turned back to Dean with a serious look on his face. “And before you ask me, no, I don’t have her mother. But you have no idea the power that a pact has. Anyway, my dear,” He said now looking at Jen with a mysterious smile. “Great offer for you. I’ll even let you say goodbye to your mommy before you come and spend an extended vacation with me. Your safety for hers, I wonder if she wouldn’t do the same for you… Pray, if you want to; I assure you I’ll be listening. Have you ever prayed for a demon? Super effective, you’ll Love it. So, that’s all... You kids have a lovely evening.” And just like that, Crowley snapped his finger leaving Dean and Jennifer alone in the room. Dean looked dead serious to Jen, hat was still open-mouthed about what just had happened:

“Please tell me you’re not considering this. The guy’s a demon!”

“No, no. I would never trust him.” She said quickly.

“Good. I’m glad to hear that.”

Jen gave him a awkward smile, even though she was living in the bunker for a few days now, she still felt a bit uncomfortable to express more than what she judge strictly necessary. But truth be told, she was considering the demon’s proposition. Maybe it was the way he said it... She’d read the books, she knew he was good in persuading, and she could not understand why she was letting herself fall into the same trick she had read over and over again. But the way he talked about her mother, he seemed to be so sure that it was possible to bring her back. She missed her mother, and the fact that she had no Idea if her mom was still alive was slowly driving her mad. At the very least, with this pact she would be sure her mom was safe. Of course she would have to live in Hell, and this cannot be good in any context, right? Right? But still, she wondered, doing this for her mother, no matter the consequences, is worth trying, right? Right?


	9. Problems of Royalty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it <3

Back in Hell, Crowley sat down in his bed and stared at nothing for a while. He couldn’t think clearly. He looked at his bed, running his hand over the dark sheet; why does he even have a bed? It’s not like he needs to sleep, or to rest anyway. Maybe, no matter how much time passes by, some human habits remain. Of course the great King of Hell would never admit to have bad habits, especially the human ones, but the idea of finding your own bed after a busy day at work seemed pleasant enough. Now as the king, or even back then as a simple crossroad demon, every day after work, he would sit down on the edge of his bed and snapped his fingers, making appear a glass of Craig, his favorite scotch. Only then, he could consider his day complete.

Crowley leaned back onto the massive headboard of his bed and took a moment to think. He thought, thought about so many things; unfinished business, business he had yet to initiate and things he tried hard to forget. His death was one of those things he tried to forget, and he was indeed, getting closer to his goal, with each passing day, humanity seemed more and more distant to the King of Hell. His life in Scotland came back in blurred flashes, like a long dream that you can barely recall after you wake up. Although he tried his best to forget about his earlier life, his deal was something he never quite managed to let go. To this day, he felt a sharp pain in his chest whenever he recalled about the reason for what he had sold his soul for… How could he have been so futile? Sure, it wasn’t like he had much to lose, but there was so much more he could have asked for: Wealth, mansions, women, fame… But back then those things were so precarious, anyway. He was ashamed of selling his soul for so little, but what weighted down on his ego the most was the fact that he was a better person as a demon than he could have ever been as a human.

When human, he was Fergus McLeod _“A drunk, a monster.”_ The words his son, Gavin, told him over and over again. All he knew how to do was walk - stumble from pub to pub, always looking for the next place to serve him a glass of whatever he could afford, until be kicked out and look for the next place to get a drink. He used to come home drunk, and beat his child; a child he never were quite sure that was his, because in a random morning, a random woman, whom he had slept with in a random night, showed up at his door with a child that she judged his and guaranteed that she would not take care of the little infant. He took care of the boy, between drinks and drubs, he did. But who could be the one to judge him? That was the way his mother raised him.

Life has not been kind on him, so what did he have to lose with his pact? Nothing, maybe even gain something. And it was after his death that he realized his vocation to be a demon.

He never wanted to be better, but improving himself was the main consequence of his death. While still Fergus, he never thought of himself as a bad person, he had always managed to do the best he could with the little he had, and when he gave up trying his best he became a demon. He gained access to power and knowledge, and he sure liked it. He learned languages, history, and facts, he learned about other cultures, he learned how to drink and how to properly behave.

Crowley liked to think of himself as a “bon vivant”. Back when he was human, none of this mattered; he never cared and never felt ashamed about his ignorance.

Still reflecting, Crowley wondered what he was doing wrong with the Scout girl, she seemed always suspicious of him. Sure, she had both Winchester on her shoulders, but he thought it would be easier to convince her about the deal. It was not like the girl had a strong personality anyway... And that was annoying, to say the least. He had found her by chance; he was supervising a debt collection in a college when the Scout girl showed before his eyes. Before that, he had no idea where the girl was, and he had searched for the Scouts for a long time. He could tell who she was just by looking; she was the spitting image of her mother. Looking at the desperate girl, his plan was simple: Kidnap her and make the mother hand the Code in exchange for her daughter, but before he could give it another thought, he saw that bloody old car of the Winchester stopping by, and now, Maeve Scout was missing, and he found himself trying to drag the girl to Hell, without even a good reason to. He wanted the girl there, with him, and he didn’t even know why, but since the moment he first laid eyes on her, he felt the need to be around her.

Like a man that don’t tend to let his instincts go by unattended, Crowley went after the girl, but the difficulty that she had in accepting him made him frustrated, but he would not quit that easily. He just needed a plan, a better one.

Taking one more sip of the amber liquid in his glass, he came up with a new idea, something the Scout girl would not be able to deny, and maybe, once in Hell, he might finally understand what she has that attracts him so…


	10. Problems of a Hunte Trainee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

In the Bunker, Jennifer was in her bed, but she could not sleep. For hours she divided her attention between looking at the ceiling and then at the wall. After giving up getting any sleep, she grabbed and old book she was studying to help the boys in a case. Even though the reading was interesting, Jen could not stop thinking about what had happened earlier, he meeting with Crowley was giving her much to think about.

Jen was an only child, and since she was little, her quiet personality didn’t help her making too many friends. She felt alone for most of the time. When little, she remember asking her mother for a little brother or sister, someone that could keep her company, but her parents told her they worked too much to take care of another child. In school, she never was the most popular or best student of the class, but due to the fact she always had a book with her, she seemed to be less alone than she actually were.

Being alone always bothered her, but she always managed to try and find a good thing about everything. Being so distant from her parents made her, from a very young age, able to protect and take care of herself. She knew that she could always count on her parents; the problem was that they were not around for most of the time. After her father’s passing, Jen’s mom got more carried away with her work, her trips got longer and her fuse got shorter. That was when Jen realized she would have to become her own person.

Learning to fit in was never a problem, but she always paid special attention to never share her real thoughts with anyone, specially the bad ones. She would never share more than what was strictly necessary. She always tried her best to never bother anyone. Jennifer spent most of the time trying to be her best version so no one could ever accuse her of anything. But now she found herself in a very different position: her mother was missing and each passing day the hopes to find her alive diminished. Jen was far from home, living with strangers, and she couldn’t even help them with money. Of course the boys never said a word about money, but she still wished being able to help them. The more she thought how alone she felt, the more her head ached. In the In the meantime she was missing from her home, no one, not even her best friend Alex had reached out for her, not even a text message, what made her think that maybe they weren’t such good friends after all. What she desired the most in that moment was to scream, scream that she was tired of trying to fit in, tired of always watching herself for any mistakes, tired of cutting off pieces of herself in order to make others comfortable. Right now, all she wished for was to be her, Jennifer C. Scout, but she had no idea of what that meant.

Feeling out of place in there, Jen remembered him, the demon she met a couple of times. He was bad, dark, sinister, and still her thoughts always found a way back to him. She felt intrigued by his calm demeanor, he was magnetic. He offered her something she could easily accept: Stay in Hell - where due to the demon’s insistence she felt more welcomed than in the Bunker - and save her mother. All he asked in return was for her soul. It all seemed so unreal, although everything that had happened since she found out her favorite book was real seemed to be a lie. What had stopped her from saying ‘yes’ to the demon moments ago was Dean’s presence, but now, alone, without Dean or Sam, she started to think: How much is a soul worth?


	11. A soul's worth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

A few days had passed by since Crowley caused a little commotion trying to buy Jennifer’s soul. On that very day, Sam had arrived right after the demon left; he had made a quick run to the grocery store. When he first steeped into the bunker, he found his brother extremely frustrated and saw Jen trying to calm him down. After asking what was going on, Dean made sure to explain every little detail, making Sam angry too, which resulted in them giving the girl a long lecture about how “Killing demons is good/Selling your soul is bad”. Jen listening carefully to everything they had to say, and agreed with everything.

Now the problem was that even a week later, Jen was still hearing the same speech, over and over, and over again. She couldn’t understand how m any times she would have to say that she “wouldn’t sell her soul” and that “she doesn’t trust demons” and “selling her soul is clearly a bad Idea”, until the boys get it. She knew it already: DEMONS ARE BAD! She couldn’t take anymore their need to confirm every minute if she was alright. Sure, she could understand, they were good people, great, by the way. Maybe the best people ever and she knew they were only trying to help, and she was thankful for the brother’s generous nature. But truth be told, she was feeling uncomfortable with all those watchful eyes, and the worst part was that every passing day the chances of finding has mother diminished.

Jennifer was starting to feel that she was wasting time being there, even though she had a roof over her head, food and new good friends, she felt that that was the most that the Winchesters could help her with. It was time for her to do things on her own. So in one of the not so few moments that she was alone in the Bunker, she went to her bedroom remembering that Crowley had told her she could pray to him.

“Crowley, are you listening?” She whispered. No answer came, so she waited. She had no idea if he was going to answer, or if he was going to answer at all. And how would that even be? A voice in her head? A text message? When she was feeling stupid for even trying, she heard a knock on her door and the door gently opened. She couldn’t quite see who was there, but she got hold of a knife, just in case.

As soon as the door completely opened, she saw Crowley standing there, hands in his pocket and a malicious smirk on his lips..

“Hello, Darling. How can I help you?”

She stood still for a second, trying to decide if she was right in calling him there. She knew she was betraying the boy’s trust, but at the moment she had bigger goals than relying on their generosity. Her mom couldn’t wait the next clue about her missing, a clue that probably would led to nothing, like all of the other clues before. So she gathered all her courage up and said:

“You can help me telling more about that pact.”

“I don’t know what doubts you might have, I tried to make everything as clear as possible.”

“Please tell me again.”

“Very well… – he stepped into the room- The deal is: you, in hell with me, unharmed, for indeterminate time.”

“What about my mom?”

“You on Hades, and she here, on top. Living peacefully.”

“How can I be sure she is still alive?”

“Believe me, if Maeve Scout was dead, everyone would know.” Jen raised her eyebrows in question. “You really have no idea the power your name holds, huh?”

“No, but I tend to hear that a lot.”

Crowley took a deep breath before starting explaining:

“I believe you are familiar with the magic tale about the Code? – Jen nodded in agreement – So, the little thing is so important, and it makes you family so important, that if your mother was dead, every being, Hell and earth would know.”

“I see. But how can I be sure my mom is going to be okay?”

“I’ll give you time to say goodbye.”

“Then I’ll go to Hell?”

“Yes.”

“With you?” Crowley gave her an affirmative smirk. “So I won’t have the ten years?”

“Yes and no. You see, it’s a pact, like any other, but you don’t get to spend those ten years here on top. You go straight to Hell, and when your time’s up… Well, let’s just say we will need to separate your soul from your body, because you already will be in the right place.”

“How do we Seal the deal?”

“I think you are aware of how it works, aren’t you darling?”

He said smirking and stepping closer to the girl. Even though she was a inch taller than the demon, she felt really small in his presence; he was commanding and intimidating. Jen never gave it a second thought, but staring at the demon, she thought he actually was pretty attractive – or his meatsuit was attractive, she wasn’t sure, but kissing him wouldn’t be a big problem. He stepped closer, until his body was mere inches away from hers. He gently placed one hand on her waist and the other on her face. Jennifer was feeling breathless; her heart was beating fast and only seemed to beat faster every inch he pulled her closer… Until the moment she felt blood rushing to her brain:

“Crowley?” He raised one eyebrow in question. “How can I be sure you won’t torture me and try to trade me for the Code?” 

“The fun lies exactly on not knowing.” He said with a smile. The look of horror on the girl’s face made Crowley chuckle, but he rephrased it. “I gave you my word on not hurting you, I plan on doing so.”

Jennifer knew that she could not possibly be sure that the demon was telling the truth, but lying was his nature and there was not she could do about it but to trust him right now. If he was telling the truth, she could not only save her mother, but also keep the so important Code safe.

Jen took a very small step towards Crowley, staring deeply in his light colored eyes, feeling hypnotized. The closeness of them caused her breath to stop, so as quickly as she could, she reached forward and pulled him to her. When her lips was about to touch his, she heard the bunker’s door heavily shut and then she hear Dean’s voice:

“Jennifer! We’re here! Where are you?”


	12. To seal the deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Jen stepped away from the demon; her hands on his chest gently pushed him away.

“Gave up already? It is literally a one-time deal, darling. Are you really going to walk away?” Crowley asked.

“I have to. They are calling me.”

“They call and you just run to them? What are you? Their pet?”

“No, but they let me live here as a favor, so it’s only polite to go when I’m called.”

“Well, when you’re ready to leave your owners, you call me. I cannot guarantee you will have the same terms, but I will be sure to make an effort.” Crowley said about to snap his fingers.

“Will we able to pick up from where we left off?” She asked worried about making the demon wasting his time.

“We, will, yes. I just hope Maeve will be able to do so too.” He said with an ironic pity expression.

“What do you mean?” Worry beginning to rise in Jen’s voice.

“I’m just saying that you can have the luxury of waiting another day, but your mother… Who knows? Well, maybe she can. After all, it’s not like she is missing or anything like that, right?!” Crowley said with his exaggerated hand gestures and sarcastic expression.

For a moment Jennifer stopped and analyzed the situation that she found herself into. Crowley was right. She had no way to know was her mom doing; Maeve could be in a situation where a day might be the difference between life and death. The deal could not be postponed. She had to save her mother. The deal had to happen, right at that instant. She closed her eyes and took a deep and slow breath.

When she opened her eyes again, Crowley was still standing there, studying her with and expression on his face that was impossible to read. He was the only one that knew what was going on in his mind, and that made her shiver. He offered her his hand and she took it. With a light pull of his, she stumbled a little towards him, who quickly pulled her against his chest. Still against him, Jen recomposed herself, easing her breath, the closeness allowed her to feel the light fragrance that came from the demon, she didn’t recognize it, it probably was an expensive perfume, but she felt it pleasing nonetheless.

“Darling, have you made up your mind? As much as I would like that, I can’t spend all day here with you.”

Jen looked at him with a timid expression and her cheeks lightly warm due to his characteristic flirting. She nodded in agreement and directed her gaze towards the demon’s thin lips. She felt one of his hands on her back, pulling her closer, while the other hand gently brushed away a small strand of hair out of her face. Looking at his eyes, she saw his expression asking for permission to step even closer, that was when she placed her arms around his neck. Taking this as a signal to get even closer, Crowley took her lips on his, pressing on them gently, intense and skillfully. Jen couldn’t breathe, it was all too much, she wanted it to be over as soon as possible, but she also wished that feeling would last forever. There, in the demon’s arms, she felt safe. She felt like there was a voice in the back of her head telling her that she just made the best decision of her life. The moment Crowley broke the kiss she felt the air returning all at once to her lungs. Crowley chuckled at the girl’s reaction and broke the silence:

“No need to worry now, darling. As soon as I find your mother, I’ll bring her here, and you can finally leave your owners.”

“So you’ll become my new owner?” She joked with a sad look on her face.

“Love, I don’t say this very often, but given the circumstances, you’ve made the right choice. Really.” Crowley said in a reassuring tone. Jennifer almost considered it an attempt to cheer her up, that is, if he wasn’t him. And before she managed to say ‘thank you’, she heard Sam’s voice calling her down the hall, and Crowley had already vanished.

Hearing the Winchester calling her again, she stepped out the room and went to his direction. Now she had a new goal: Pretend she had not just sold her soul.


	13. Ambitions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Crowley arrived at his office in Hell, Jennifer's contract ready to be filed.

It had all been so much easier than Crowley imagined.

Like the efficient demon he was, he had a grand, brilliant plan in every single branch, with all the edges properly, perfectly trimmed. He aimed to get the Scout girl to sell her soul. In the end, her entire exquisite plan was dismissed just by asking if she thought her mother would have another day to live. He really imagined that it would be more difficult... Although pleased with the ease with which Jennifer sold her soul, Crowley worried, because then she was much more naive than he had imagined, and if she was going to be by his side for a while, naivety was the last thing needed to deal with.

He promised not to kill her, torture her, or to use her as a bribe to obtain the Code, which was the absolute truth, really. But what he well knew was that the girl never stopped to read between the lines. It was clear as the day that he could not hurt her in order to obtain the Code, but at no time did the demon say that he would not make others think that she was in danger so that the Code would end up in his hands.

Although everyone knew the basic function of the Code “Complicated spells made simple” few knew the true power it held. They were not just complicated spells; they were spells with levels of complexity far beyond the usual, mostly that only great witches could perform after intense study. The Code facilitated all of this, spells were simpler, as were the ingredients, and their power was not altered at all, but their side effects were reduced by almost fifty percent, making dangerous spells almost completely safe to perform.

With such a power, it would be much easier for him to maintain his throne and expand his kingdom, the pacts would have more power and the number of souls feeding Hell would grow almost inexhaustibly. And if his projections were correct, by the end of the Jennifer’s time, Crowley would have become a King almost as powerful as an Infernal Knight, being a match even for Lucifer himself.

Although with big plans, the King of Hell could not help thinking about that kiss: sweet, shy… It was as if she had never done that before. Was that even possible? The young woman was very beautiful, certainly had a boyfriend, even more being in college… No. He was thinking too much about things that were not even worth it. It was just the sealing of a contract, like so many before, thousands of them, perhaps. The thing is that Crowley had never thought about any of them after the kiss occurred, but ever since he met Jennifer, the girl had aroused a certain curiosity in the demon and he always found himself thinking about her. The Scout's quiet demeanor caught his eye, he wanted to find out what she hid beneath that placid facade, but he could only hope for it to be something interesting. Although he was able to read minds, he never had a special interest in reading hers, his interest was much more ... _essential_ than knowing what the young woman thought.

The demon put his hands on his head, rubbing his temples. He had to put the first part of the plan into action: Find Maeve, so that he could then continue to take steps towards his main goal: Take the Code to himself. And thinking about young Scout would be of no help.


	14. Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope youlike it <3

After the demon left her room, Jen heard Sam's voice calling out to her again. She ran towards the sound.

Once there, she saw Sam and Dean sitting at the kitchen table.

“How was the hunt?” The young woman asked pulling a chair to sit with the brothers.

“Terrible, but at least no one died.” Sam was sitting with a beer bottle in his hand, looking furiously at his brother.

“It wasn't that bad. He's just pissed because he had a little more vampires than expected.” Dean said taking a sip of his beer.

" _A little more_ ’ is an understatement, Dean.” Sam replied. The girl looked from one Winchester to the other waiting for a more detailed explanation.

“ _The Lord Fancy Words_ over there is irritated because I thought there would be three vampires, but it ended up being a nest of ten. I had no way of knowing it.”

“Yes, you had, if you had done your research right.”

“Are you questioning the quality of my work?” Dean asked annoyed.

“Of your work? No. Of your research? Sure.” Sam replied wryly.

The two brothers engaged in a sequence of exchange of splinters and verbal aggression. Jennifer was used to it, so it was not a big problem to stay on the sidelines during their discussions. It was even a little fun. Despite their age and the fact that they hunt monsters, Sam and Dean were two brothers like any other. She used these little moments to compare them with the brothers Chuck described in the books. In fact, they were children who grew up too much.

She continued to hear the two fighting and held her laughter for a few moments, until the two got up and started towards each other. At that moment Jen stood up and shouted:

“Hey! It’s enough! Don’t you think?”

The two stopped and stood looking at her in awe. Dean was the first to break the silence:

“He started it. He hasn't shut up since the moment the other vampires showed up.”

“Yeah! Because seven more vampires showed up, Dean. Seven! We could have died!”

Jen intervened again before Dean could answer anything:

“But nobody died and that's what matters. You - She said pointing to Sam - You are alive. Enough with the non-stop talking, we all got it. - Dean looked at his brother with a winning smile that quickly faded when Jen turned to him and raised his voice - And you pay more attention in the research for the next hunt. You two are wrong and it's time to stop fighting! And I am doing very well and I have spent the last few days very well. No demons appeared here wanting to buy my soul, thank you very much for asking. - Jen finished saying by raising her voice even more and pushing her chair hard against the table, making a loud noise. She withdrew toward her room, leaving the two boys with shocked faces behind her.

Sam turned to Dean:

“Was she talking about Crowley?”

“I don’t know, maybe. Do you remember her being angry like that?”

“No, but don't you think one of us should go there? Just to see if everything is okay?”

“If you want to go there and talk to the _Beast_ , be my guest. Imma wait for the next week.”

“Next week?”

“Yes, when her _Lady Week_ passes.” Dean said and sat down at the table, taking another sip of his beer. Sam nodded disapprovingly, grabbed his beer bottle and went after Jennifer.

Sam knocked on the girl’s door, and she took a long time to answer it. She shyly opened the door, already preparing to apologize for the way she had behaved when Sam spoke:

“Hey, are you okay? - She nodded. Then he continued - What did you mean by demon coming here? Did someone show up here?”

“No, nobody came. I mean, Crowley came by…”

Sam's eyes widened.

“He came? What did he want? Did something happen that you’d like to tell us?”

Jen stopped for a second before answering. She thought whether or not should her tell Sam what had happened, and then replied:

“He said he wanted to talk to me, I said I had nothing to talk to him. Then he asked where you were, I said you were out and he left without saying a word.”

“Are you sure that's all that happened?”

Jen nodded and made the excuse that she was tired and was going to sleep. She said goodbye to Sam and shut the door.

Now sitting on the bed, she thought that perhaps the best option was to have told the truth, but she had already lied. Maybe she should call Sam again and tell him what really had happened, and apologize for lying and asking for help in breaking the pact. Deep down she knew that was not an option. She hated lying, but lying was the only way to find her mother again, even if only to say goodbye. She wouldn't tell them the truth, at least not until she was sure that her mother and the code were safe.


	15. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Almost a week had passed, and Jennifer still hadn't heard a word from the demon.

She often saw him through the Bunker, but as soon as she showed up he was quickly gone. Jennifer was beginning to wonder if he was deliberately avoiding her. Maybe she had sold her soul for nothing, maybe her mother was already dead and he didn't want to be the person to break the news, which would even make sense, because if the pact was made in order to guarantee her mother's safety, with Maeve dead of nothing the pact would be worth and Crowley would have to return her soul, right? Right? Or maybe he was just torturing her, seeing how long she could live under the Winchester roof without saying anything about having her soul guaranteed to a demon. This seemed like the kind of mind game he would play: rejoicing in her anxiety, watching her torture herself waiting for any kind of news. It would be something demonic to do, and perhaps the right thing to do is to expect demonic things from a demon.

But the truth is that she was probably giving herself a lot of importance and the demon in fact had nothing to talk to her so far. Anyway, she was certainly going crazy with all of this.

Throughout the week, Jen made an effort to spend more time with the boys, as she knew that the next time Crowley showed up, it would probably be to take her away, and she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her fictional heroes who were real after all. And although she knew it was not necessary, she took those days to take care of them, in the form of gratitude she cleaned and cooked. Sam always reminded her that it was not her duty, but she insisted that it was the least she could do, but deep down Jen knew she was doing all of that just so they would not totally hate her when the truth came out.

And it was on any given night, in the middle of a movie - that Jennifer had to insist for the boys to watch it with her, that it was possible to hear a knock at the entrance door of the Bunker. Sam and Dean looked at each other, Jennifer was so focused on what she was watching that she only realized what was happening when Sam paused the movie and stood up, taking his gun. They told her to stay where she was, and not to leave, unless she was called. And so she did.

Minutes later Jen heard Dean's voice calling out to her. She was scared. Maybe this was the moment when she finally leaves, maybe not. She took a deep breath and headed for the Bunker's main room.

Getting to the end of the hall, Jennifer overheard an intelligible conversation and saw a silhouette with her back to her, talking to Sam and Dean. As she got closer, it was possible to notice that the voice that merged with that of the boys was the familiar voice of her mother. She ran towards the sound, and what was only a silhouette before became increasingly clear that was in fact her mother, even after having losing a good deal of weight and having her hair cut shorter, Jennifer had no doubt that that was her mother.

When Maeve saw her, she couldn't speak a single word. She just ran and held her daughter in her arms. Jennifer, in return, hugged her mother with all her strength. They both cried while holding on, trying to kill the longing they were feeling. Maeve, was the one who released her daughter, looking at her, looking for any sign of injuries, and smiled when she saw that apparently, her daughter was in perfect health. Jennifer threw herself towards her mother and continued to hug her. After several minutes, Dean broke the silence by clearing his throat and asking:

“Sorry to break the mood, but what the hell happened, Maeve?”

She told the story in detail that on that particular day, she had returned home after a hunt, and while she was cooking dinner, witches appeared and tried to get information about the Code's location. When they realized that they would achieve nothing, they threatened to kill Jennifer by hiding hexbags in the house. Maeve said that she traded her life for her daughter's and the witches took her into a kind of captivity, so that she would be alone until the moment she told the location of the Code. They left her without food and even cut her hair in order to get her to speak.

“Man, that's why I hate witches, in addition to being disgusting, they are jerks.” Dean confirmed.

Sam listened carefully, until he went silent for a very long moment and asked:

“How did you get out of there?”

“I have no idea." Maeve said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I was there, handcuffed. I heard screams, a fighting noise. Something knocked me out, when I woke up I had my hands tied and I was hooded. They left me at the beginning of the road that leads here. They cut me fee and took off the hood. I was told to go straight and knock on your door. I didn't know it was you who lived here.”

“Did you see who did it?”

“No. But I imagine it must have been the witches themselves.”

Dean interrupted:

“Okay, but if the witches kidnapped you, why would they release you? Did they just got tired of you?”

“I don't know, Dean. My best guess is that they saw that I was not going to speak and let me go to follow me and see where the Code is kept.”

“It makes sense, but how did they know about Bunker?”

“I have no idea. But we have to get out of here as soon as possible. I believe that it will not be long before those who brought me here, come knocking on the door too.”

“Wait. Do you want to leave? Dean asked.”

“Boys, you need to know that I will never be able to pay what you did for me and my Jen, but if we stay here, only God knows what can come through that door. We cannot put you in danger, and I need to get the Book before someone finds it.”

Sam tried to argue:

“Hey, hey ... You just got here. And two minutes ago you were in captivity. Have dinner, take a shower and try to rest. You are safe inside here. Tomorrow morning we'll take care of that, will you?”

She smiled and nodded, the younger Winchester had good arguments. And all she really wanted now was a shower and some food.

After dinner, Maeve was getting ready for bed when Jen entered the room and sat next to her mother on the bed.

“Mother, why did you never tell me any of this?” The young woman asked. Maeve pulled Jen against her, causing the girl to lie on her shoulder before starting to answer:

“Sweetie, it was very dangerous. Your father and I stopped hunting for a living when you were born. We took care of hunting in the region, trying to never spend too much time away and make sure you were safe. That's why I always told you to use my surname, Constance, it was safer than Scout. I never wanted this to happen, really ... But it did and I regret that it was all at once.”

“No problem. I mean, there is, because I feel that you preferred lying to me than believing that I was able to defend myself...”

“Jennifer, we never doubted your abilities, sweetie. But your father was a great hunter, and now he is dead, and I was kidnapped the moment I let my guard down. Can you understand that the problem was never what you are capable of doing?” The girl nodded, and the older Scout continued. “We never wanted this life for you ... Especially with this code at stake. I should have gotten rid of it the second your dad died, but it's his life's work, it felt wrong. But I promise I will do something about it, and as soon as possible, we can get out of here and live in peace together.” Maeve took her daughter's hand “Do you trust me, Jennifer?”

“Of course, Mom. I’m just happy that you are safe now.” The young woman replied hugging her mother.

Jennifer insisted that her mother should try to get a good night's sleep, and went to her room.

After lying in bed, Jennifer's mind could not slow down as much as she wanted it to. Was her mother there on her own? Was her mother's arrival a demonic work? And if it was, why didn't Crowley show up to take her right away? Maybe he had failed and he didn't want to admit it. But what if everything went well and her mother was there because of the pact? How would she tell the Winchesters about the pact? And most importantly, how would she tell her mother, who had already lost so much, that she would lose her daughter as well?

That night, Jennifer didn't sleep trying to find an answer, at least one, for the questions that hung over her head.


	16. Tenderness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

It had been three days since Maeve arrived at the Bunker. She was different from when she first arrived; she looked stronger, more flushed, in fact a few nights of sleep really made a difference. She was sitting at the table, computer in front of her, looking for any information that might tell if something had happened to the Code during her time in captivity. Dean was standing behind her looking puzzled at the computer, with one hand on his hip and in the other hand a bottle of beer, when he asked:

“How researching a mall will help?”

“That's where the code is. If there is nothing strange about that region, then the book must be safe.”

Dean's expression was one of utter terror.

“So one of the most dangerous books in the world is in a mall?”

“Yes, hidden in the ventilation.”

Dean takes a deep breath before speaking:

“Just one question, Why?” Disbelief explicit in his voice.

“Why what?”

“Why of all the possible places, there?”

“Where would you hide it?”

“I don’t know, in a cemetery, in an underground, in the middle of some forest ... Literally anywhere but a mall full of people.”

“Exactly.” Maeve replied with an air of superiority and a smile.

Dean didn't answer anything, just raised an eyebrow as if to say it "makes sense", and continued to drink his beer, sitting at the table, next to Jennifer, who listened to music with headphones. Dean nudged her with his arm for her to take off the headphones, she did so and he commented:

“You look terrible.”

“Hey!”Jen protested.

“Don't get me wrong, but are you getting any sleep, like, at all?”

“I'm sleeping ... Little, but I am.”

“Well, if you ask me. I think you should take a nap. Your mom is here, she’s okay, you're here, and you’re okay. Everything’s okay. You should go to sleep.”

“I can't argue this logic.” Jen said getting up and heading towards her room, not before asking to be woken up in a few hours.

Jen had been lying in bed for almost an hour, with her eyes closed, trying hard to sleep, but unable to. Dean was right, she hadn't slept in days. In fact, since her mother arrived she hasn't been able to sleep at all. She was spending sleepless nights waiting for the moment when the demon Crowley would appear to take her to Hell. At that moment she was wondering if her mother and the Winchesters would allow her to go or if they would get into a fight and kill the demon. Probably the second option. She hoped that the second option would really happen, because the idea of going to hell scared her, but on the other hand, she was even more afraid that if something happened to the demon, her pact would be canceled and her mother would be unprotected and back to captivity. The sound of her mother's knock on the bedroom door took Jen out of her thoughts:

“Hey, I was thinking of cooking dinner today, is there anything you want?” Maeve asked.

“No, thank you.” Jen replied without even moving.

“Sweetie, why are your things already packed?” She asked looking at two large bags with perfectly arranged clothes.

“Now that you're back, I figured we wouldn't be here long. I'm just getting ready.” Jennifer lied to her mother. She couldn't tell the real reason why her bags were already ready.

Maeve lay down next to Jennifer and hugged her.

“Sweetie, you know we can't go back to our house, don't you?”

“I figured we wouldn't go back there.” Jennifer hugged her mother back.

“But we're leaving soon. I'm going to sell our house, and we can start over somewhere new, away from here. I know you're going to have to leave your college and your friends, but, what do you think of a fresh start?” Maeve asked smiling.

“Whatever you want, I’m good with it, Mom.”

“Jen, pay attention to what I'm going to tell you ...” Jen looked into her mother's eyes “I love you, Sweetie. I love you to the moon and back.”

“I love you too, Mom” She said with teary eyes, hugging her mother as tightly as possible.

The mother was the first to break the hug, claiming that the young woman needed to sleep and she needed to start making dinner. Leaving a kiss on her daughter's cheek, Maeve left the room and closed the door.

Minutes after struggling with the same thoughts - and now feeling even worse for letting her mom makes plan she wouldn’t be part of Jennifer was almost overcome by tiredness. Her eyes were tired and her breathing was slowing down. She was finally managing to fall asleep when a familiar voice startled her:

“Ready for your one-way trip, darling?” Jennifer looked scared. So, at last, her time had come. “I was very benevolent and even gave you three days with Mommy before I take you away.”

Crowley smirked at the girl who still couldn't answer. She was just sitting on the bed staring at the demon.

“My dear, I need an answer. Will you talk to them or should I?”


	17. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Crowley was still standing in front of Jennifer waiting for an answer. Despite the seconds running smoothly, Jen felt that time had stopped. The time to tell the truth had arrived, her eyes watered and she was fighting bravely to hold back her tears, but she was failing miserably. She looked at the demon and said:

“I will talk to them, but ... Can you give me one more moment?” Crowley just raised an eyebrow in answer to the girl's question, who gave more details: “Can it be after the dinner that my mom is making?”

“I already gave you three days, wasn't that enough?”

“I need to speak fast, rip off the band aid, I don't want to be crying then. And I really appreciated the three days, but this is the last time I will see my mother, can you do me this one more favor?

Although he did not want to allow it, although every cell of his being screamed for him to just drag her to Hell, something in the young woman's sad look made Crowley force himself to make one of his rare exceptions. But if it was anyone else ... Well, if it was anyone else, not even the three days would have been granted.

Crowley nodded, making clear his defeat, and concluded:

“The moment of farewell is always something special. I will grant it to you. I'll be right behind you. Don't make me wait any longer than necessary. Patience is not my forte.”

After dinner full of light and trivial conversations, Dean, Sam, and Jen were sitting at the table while Maeve served pieces of pie to each of them for dessert. Dean asked Maeve:

“Any progress finding out how you escaped?”

“Nothing yet. Nobody knows, saw or heard anything. I'm starting to give up on finding answers.”

Before Dean could answer, Crowley appeared in the corner of the room, to get attention he made a dramatic sound as if he were clearing his throat. Everyone, except for Jennifer, stood up and was holding the closest weapon they could find.

“I believe that the young Scout, can be of great help in the search for those answers.”

“What do you want now, Crowley?” Sam said pointing a pistol at the demon.

“No need for violence, Moose, I just came here to take what is rightfully mine.”

“There is nothing in this place that is rightfully yours.”

“I beg to differ. Jennifer?” He said stepping towards the girl.

Maeve stepped in front of the demon and turned to her daughter, an expression of horror on her face:

“Jen, what is this worm talking about?”

All eyes were fixed on Jennifer, she swallowed hard, trying to figure out how to explain what happened, and before she could ponder remaining silent for another moment that seemed to be eternal, she simply spoke in the lowest possible voice:

“You were gone. I was desperate ... I'm sorry, Mom, please.”

“Jennifer, did you sell your soul?” Maeve asked, almost shouting at her.

“I ... I thought you were going to die.” Jennifer said looking at the floor. Maeve could no longer say anything; she just rubbed her hands against her face in worry.

“Jen, what happened? We were looking for your mom, together...” Said Sam.

“Yes, and you were doing such a great job that she preferred to sell her soul rather than wait for you to fail.” Crowley said exalting even more the spirits.

“Damn it, Crowley! What's your problem? What about her ten years?" Dean said.

"She will have them, but in Hell, not in here so you can find a way to kill me."

"Call off the pact! Now!” Dean said raising his voice and going towards the demon with an angelic blade in hand.

“I'm afraid you wouldn't like the result if I do that. As you already know, undoing a contract brings everything back to its initial state.” He said putting his hands in his pockets.

“And what, exactly, do you mean by that?” Sam asked while Dean stepped back.

“Have you ever wondered why no one could find Maeve? No? Maybe it was because the witches who kidnapped her did a great job hiding her. Witches really are a pain in the backside, you know, they've done unspeakable evil things with the Scout. So by the time my boys arrived in the captivity, Maeve was already so beaten up that she had a reaper waiting for her. It took a lot of energy to convince it not to take her, and it took even more to get her cured." Now everyone was silently listening to the demon. "So if you want me to, yes, I will undo the pact and everything that came with it. But ... I will do it only if the lovely Jennifer wants me to.”

All eyes were on Jen once more.

\- Jen, sweetie, please don't do that. You know better than that.” Maeve said and tears were beginning to blur the young woman's vision.

“I'm sorry, Mom, I …” She couldn't finish what she was going to say, because she heard a snap of fingers and Maeve fainted. Sam expertly held her, preventing the unconscious woman from falling to the floor, and gently laid her down on the table, pushing the plates with pie away. 

“Everything was getting too emotional, don't you think?” Crowley said smiling. He turned to Jen: “Jenny, say goodbye to your friends, dear, we have to go.”

Jen looked with teary eyes at Sam and Dean who with their eyes begged her not to do that.

“I'm sorry.” She looked at her mother who had a peaceful expression on her unconscious face and wiped away a tear that insisted on running down her face. “Please tell her that I'm sorry and that I love her.”

Smiling, Crowley held out his hand to the young woman, who timidly took it.

“Thank you, boys, for everything.” Jen gave a smile full of sadness.

“A pleasure, as always, lads.” Crowley said before snapping his fingers and disappearing with the girl.

For a moment, everything went dark and the floor seemed to disappear.

Blinking her eyes, she saw herself in the middle of a long dark corridor. She looked curiously at the demon still holding her hand. The only answer he gave was a small smile that raised even more doubts.

“Welcome to your new home.” He said opening a large wooden door, and gently pulling the girl into the dimly lit room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the thing is, I already have the next three chapters ready but they seem... wrong somehow. Boring even. This one was the last chapter that I felt like it was decent enough to post. The thing is that writing Crowley without him being a little shit to everyone, is acctualy way harder than I thought... So I already want to apologize for the next few chapters you read, but keep in mind that IT WILL GET BETTER I promise. Sorry again.


	18. Hell - I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

“This is your room.” Crowley said to Jennifer, and with a snap of his fingers he made the lights in the room turn on.

Jen looked around and was amazed with what she saw. The room was luxurious, with high walls composed of blocks of dark gray stone. In the middle of the room was a large brown wooden bed with a canopy carved with flowers and a large headboard in the same style. There was a large double door to the left of the room, where Crowley showed her the bathroom, all in white ceramic, with gilded details and a bathtub in the center. And on the right side of the room, there was a large sliding door, which kept a closet behind it, and next to the closet there was a large dressing table, also of dark wood. A large crystal chandelier descended from the center of the ceiling, and beneath it was a small round table with two opposite chairs. Jennifer was amazed.

“It's very beautiful, thank you.” The girl replied timidly.

“Well, I'm glad you liked it. After all, you will spend quite some time in here.” Jen nodded, looking at the floor.“I took the liberty of buying you some clothes. I imagine that the ones in the closet are a little more Hell fitted than the ones you brought, but feel free to wear whatever you prefer, I just wanted to offer you options. You things from the Bunker are there." He pointed to the bags she had packed days ago, which were now on the bed. "Well, if you don't need anything else, I'll leave you to settle.” Jen thanked him again, and with a snap of his fingers, Crowley was gone.

Now, alone in the bedroom, Jennifer began to unpack her small backpack. First she took out her cell phone, and looked at the screen: No signal. In fact, it would make little sense if she had any kind of signal down there. At that moment she realized that she was truly away from everything and everyone that she had ever known. Despite realizing this, she couldn't care much, as the only person who really mattered - her mother - was safe.

After storing a few more personal items, Jen put on simple pajamas and lay down on the big bed, covering herself with the big blue blanket that was decorating the bed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Even though she knew that less than an hour ago she had disappointed the Winchesters and broke her mother's heart, the sense of fulfilling her duty soothed her, and after several days, she managed to get a good night's sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Jennifer was awakened by a knock on her door and the sound of the door opening. Jen saw a woman with red hair and a bright smile walking into her room with a tray.

“Good morning, Miss Scout.” The woman said offering a smile and placing the tray on the table in the center of the room.

Still barely awake, Jen murmured 'good morning' in a slightly hoarse voice, sitting up on the bed.

“Sorry to wake you up, Miss Scout, but I received orders from the King to make sure you’ve spent the night well. I brought breakfast.”

Jen got up from the bed and almost crawled over to the table where the breakfast was set, sitting on one of the chairs.

“We have coffee, tea, pancakes, and some fruit, what would you like?” The woman asked still smiling.

“Coffee please.” Jen asked and the woman served her.

“Do you want anything else, maybe something I didn't bring?”

“No, it's all great, thanks.”

“Okay then. I will inform the king that you are awake and I’ll return to clear the table.” The woman said bowing slightly and heading towards the door, but before she could leave Jen interrupted her:

“Sorry, but you didn't tell me your name.”

“Oh! Sorry!” She replied smiling. “My name is Idroth, but you can call me Ida. King Crowley selected me to serve you. So, if you need anything, I'm on hand, Miss Scout.”

“Jennifer ...” The young woman murmured to the red-haired woman.

“Sorry?”

“You don't have to call me that, you can call me Jennifer, or Jen, if you want.”

“Sure, if you prefer that way.” The woman offered a smile.

“Ida, to be honest I hadn't sleep too well in a few days, would it be okay for me to get some more sleep?” Jen asked fearing looking lazy, but also very tired.

“I believe it won’t be a problem. In case of the King having any plans for you, I will come to tell you.” Ida said with a smile before asking permission to leave the room, closing the door behind her.

Jen paused for a moment to think that the woman smiled a lot more than she has ever imagined a demon being able to.

After eating, Jen went back to bed and fell asleep in very few minutes.

During the hours of sleep, Jen did not dream of anything. It seemed that there, at last, her worries about everything had come to an end.


	19. Hell - II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

When Jennifer woke up, she found Ida removing the things left from the breakfast.

“Glad you woke up Miss. Scout. Jennifer.” Corrected the demon. “I was hoping to wake you up soon. The King requests your presence for dinner.”

“Dinner? Already? What time is it?” Jen asked, still stretching on the bed.

“It is difficult to keep accurate information about the hours here in Hell. But it's almost time for dinner on earth.”

“I can't believe I slept all day. I am so embarrassed! Crowley must be thinking I'm a lazy.”

“Oh, don't worry about it! I told him that you needed to rest. He understood perfectly.”

“Thank you, Ida.”

“You’re very welcome.” The woman said smiling. “But you need to get ready. Let's go! The bathtub is ready for you.”

After her bath, Jen came out of the bathroom wearing only a bathrobe, when she saw that Ida was still in her room, she was embarrassed to be nearly undressed next to an almost unknown person.

“There are some clothes for you to choose.” The demon said pointing to the bed.

Jen approached the bed and saw some clothing options, a long black dress, bodycon style and simple, a shorter dress in a beautiful shade of bright purple, also without many details, and finally she saw a long dark blue dress, with thin straps and beautiful embroidery. Jen found the options lovely; however, they were all too formal.

“Ida, they are beautiful, but isn't everything too formal for just a dinner?” Jen said trying not to sound ungrateful.

“Well, it's not just dinner, it's dinner with the king after all ... But I was instructed to ensure that you wear whatever you feel comfortable with.” Ida said raising her hands in defeat, still with a smile on her face. “Take a look in your closet and see if there's something you like better.”

Pushing the closet door aside, she saw a gigantic amount of clothing, most of which were dresses of all kinds. It also had some skirts, blouses and coats. All the pieces had a dark hue in common - regardless of color. Opening a large drawer in the closet, Jen found her favorite pair of Jeans - for a second she wondered why her clothes were there, since she hadn't touched them, so she figured it was probably Ida who unpacked her things.

“Are you really going to wear jeans?” Ida asked with a shocked expression.

“Too informal?”

“At least put on a nice blouse and a nice pair of shoes to balance.” Ida replied, rolling her eyes playfully, and handing over a beautiful black blouse with long sleeves, peplum and a bow at the waist.

Jen grabbed her clothes and went to the bathroom to change. Ida laughed when she saw the girl enter the bathroom, embarrassed to change her clothes next to her. When Jennifer came out of the bathroom, she saw a wooden screen in the corner of the room, where according to Ida "she could change without locking herself in the bathroom or die of shyness". The demon asked Jen to sit in front of her dressing table mirror, and deftly pinned Jennifer's long brown hair in a high flawless ponytail. Opening the drawers of her dressing table, Jen found a multitude of makeup, and beautiful jewelry. It seemed that Crowley had really thought of absolutely everything she could possibly need.

Shortly after getting ready, Jen heard a knock on her door - it could only be Crowley. She looked at Ida as if asking what to do next, Ida just smiled and wished good luck before disappearing into the air. Jen opened the door. On the other side was the King of Hell with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Jennifer, how was your day?”

“Good, thank you. And how was yours?”

“It was hell, as usual. But you sure are a sight for sore eyes.”

Jen smiled slightly and stared into the demon's brown eyes for a moment until she realized that she probably spent too much time without saying anything.

"Before our dinner,” Crowley said, studying the girl's expression. “I would like to show you around the house, if that’s okay?” Jen nodded and Crowley offered her his arm to escort her out of the room.


	20. Hell - III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Getting to know the house didn't take long. The house was not very big and had many empty rooms. Jennifer's room was at the end of a large corridor, right next to it was a small living room, and in the same corridor Crowley showed where his bedroom and office were - although he hadn't opened the door to either of these. Down a flight of stairs, another long corridor, where the first thing to see was a dining room and at the bottom of it a kitchen hidden behind a glass door. Right next door, there was a room where Crowley held meetings with his closest demons. Jennifer found it strange that there were no entry or exit doors in the house, so she realized that doors and walls were a problem for humans and for demons those were possibly just a detail.

In the dining room, Crowley pulled Jennifer a chair to the right of the head of the table, and took the main seat. He poured wine for the girl and himself. Jennifer was silent, afraid to say something wrong and kept looking at her glass. Crowley broke the silence:

“I believe you met Idroth today?”

“Yes, she seems to be very kind.”

“Indeed it she is, and very helpful too, unlike most demons in here.”

“Different for being helpful or for being kind?”

“Both. Well, you just got here, but in time you will realize that most demons have more evil than brain. It is usually harmless, irritating, but harmless.” Jen smiled at the comment and Crowley continued “I believe Idroth has already said this, but I chose her to fulfill your orders, so anything you need or desire, just ask and she will take care of the rest.”

“Thanks. It's very kind of you, sir.”

“You don't have to call me 'sir', Jennifer, unless, of course, you want to.” Crowley smirked as he took a sip of his wine. Jen swallowed and didn't know how to answer. While Jen was blushing the food arrived and a demon served them.

The two barely had a conversation during dinner, trivial matters were brought up by the demon, but Jen was limited to only answering what was asked. Both for fear of saying something wrong and irritating the demon, and for fear of looking stupid around him.

At the end of the meal Crowley broke the silence:

“Jennifer, darling, I have no interest in making you feel in prison, but I must say that there are some ground rules that must be followed in order for this arrangement of ours to work in the best possible way.” Jen nodded, staring at the demon who continued. “I spend most of the time away from here, so whatever you need, ask Idroth, she is trustworthy.” Jen nodded again. “As you probably noticed this house has no entrance or exit doors, it is a safe haven in Hell, which means that you must stay here all time. You wouldn't be able to leave alone anyway, but if you ever have to leave here, it will be with me by your side. I expect you to spend most of your time in your room, but you are free to wander around the house. Naturally, my room and office are off limits. Doubts?”

“None.”

“Very well then. I believe it is time for us to retire.” Crowley got up and pulled the chair for Jen to get up and escorted the girl to her room. At the door to Jennifer's room, Crowley took the girl's hand to get her attention and said:

“Darling, like I said, the last thing I want is for you to feel like a prisoner here. If there is anything I can do, please do tell me.” Jen couldn't say anything, because the only thing on her mind was the sensation of her hand being held by the demon's hand. The words he said to her resonated far away in the back of her mind, and her heart started to beat slightly faster.

“Thank you.” That was all Jennifer managed to say. Crowley released her hand and guided her into the room, quickly closing the door behind her and leaving the girl alone.

That night Jennifer was unable to sleep. Maybe it was because she slept a lot that day, but most likely it was because every time she closed her eyes she could still feel Crowley's hand on hers, and that took away her peace completely.


	21. Books

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

The next morning, Ida walked into Jennifer's room with a smile on her face and a tray of breakfast in her hands.

“Good Morning! I thought you would be asleep. Coffee?” Jen nodded and the demon put a cup of coffee on the table. Jen sat at the table taking a sip of the hot liquid. Ida pulled out the chair opposite Jennifer and sat down.

“So ... How was your dinner? I need details.” Ida said with the most childish smile possible, as if she wanted to hear high school gossip.

“Nothing much happened. We just had dinner.”

“Are you saying you didn't even talk?”

“We talked, but nothing out of the ordinary.”

“I thought you would have more news, but that's okay…” Ida said with an exaggerated disappointment expression on her face.

The two women continued in comfortable silence while Jennifer was having breakfast, until Jen asked:

“Ida, what can I do around here? To pass the time?”

“It depends on what you like to do.” Jen looked at her confused, and Ida explained “I'm here to serve you, so anything you want, tell me, and I'll do everything to get it.”

Jennifer thought for a moment before answering:

“Could you get me a new book?”

“Of course! Which book do you want?” Ida asked getting up from the chair with a smile on her face.

“Any book. I brought some books with me, but I've read them a few times ...”

“Sure. I'll be back soon.” And in a blink of an eye the demon disappeared.

Jennifer finished her breakfast and took advantage of the fact that she was alone to take a bath.

She was still sunk in the bathtub when she heard Ida calling her out. After putting on a robe, Jennifer came out of the bathroom and found some books on the table that had been cleaned from the remains of breakfast.

“Well, I brought some best sellers. Since I know you like adventure books, I brought these.” Ida said pointing to the table with three books stacked “Do you like any?”

Jen sat down at the table and went through the books in silence.

“Thank you, Ida. They all look great.”

“Well, let me know if you want any more books. Do you need anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

“Then I'll leave you reading in peace. If you need anything, call me.” And so, the demon disappeared.

Ida would show up from time to time at Jennifer's room to check if the girl was okay. Ida would also bring meals, but with books in hand, Jennifer barely ate, still Ida made sure that Jennifer had eaten enough during the day. The next few days followed in the same dynamic, with Jennifer reading all the time and Ida looking after her.

Jen was still reading when Ida knocked on her bedroom door and came in with a silly smile on her face.

“You have a meeting.” Ida said.

“A meeting?”

“The King requested your presence.” The girl said nothing, just looked puzzled at the woman who adjusted the cuffs of her suit. “I don't know why, but he comes for you two to have dinner together tonight.”

Jen nodded, confirming that she understood everything Ida had said.

“Come on, Jen! Stop reading and go get ready. He'll be here soon.” Jen made a face, too lazy to stop reading and get up, but she got up from the bed to start getting ready. “Wear something beautiful. No jeans!” Ida said as Jen opened the wardrobe.

Jennifer made an effort to dress up as best she could, she chose a black dress, knees length, adorned with lace. This was the first time that she wore one of the pieces that Crowley had arranged for her. And she was surprised to see that the dress fitted her perfectly, for a second she wondered if all the other clothes would fit so well. She assumed that it probably would, since it all was chose by Crowley himself. Ida helped her with her hair, making a complicated-looking braid. As soon as Jen was ready, Ida left her alone.

Jen was already back to her previous reading when she heard Crowley's distinct knock on the door. When it took longer than expected for her to open the door, Crowley carefully entered the room, looking for the young woman. Seeing that she was still disconnecting from her book, Crowley studied her for a moment, smiling to himself. It was interesting how the girl could get so distracted by just a book.

“You look lovely, Jennifer.” Crowley said.

“Thank you, it's very kind of you.” Jen said getting up from the bed and running her hand through the dress smoothing it.

“It would only be kindness if it was a lie, I'm just stating facts.” The girl couldn't say anything; she just smiled in response, which made the demon smile too. “Shall we?”

Crowley offered her his arm, and the two of them left the room.

During dinner, Jennifer didn't say much. Throughout the meal, she realized that the reason she didn't talk much when she was close to the demon was because she was afraid to say something stupid and make him think less of her because of it.

When the silence started to get uncomfortable, Crowley said:

“I have something for you, a gift, a surprise, so to speak.”

“Really?” Jen asked with sparkling eyes. A surprise was something new for her, most of the time, her parents tried to live completely without surprises. Although she was a little suspicious about that surprise, all the demon had always been to her was only kind, she felt she could trust him.

Crowley nodded and continued:

“However, there is a condition for you to receive it.” Jen had a look of confusion that made Crowley smile. “Don't worry, love, it's nothing much. I just want you to drink some more wine with me, if that's okay.”

Jen smiled in response and nodded as Crowley poured more wine into the Young's glass.

The wine was delicious, but strong, and Crowley noticed that with each glass, Jennifer talked a little more, shared a little more, laughed a little more ... Crowley was very pleased with the result that the alcohol was having on the young woman. It has been a long time since he last had company, and now that the girl had finally started to do more than just answering his questions, he was contented to feel that he had someone to talk to. Even if some wine was required.

Crowley waved and stood up, asking Jen to follow him. She followed him to a large pair of wooden doors in the empty room that was right in front of her room.

“Are you ready, darling?” Crowley asked and Jen nodded. He slowly opened the door, making much more suspense out of it than necessary.

When the door opened, Crowley guided Jennifer into a huge library, with walls full of books from floor to ceiling. The immensity of books was so great that Jennifer felt small inside that room; everything was very beautiful and elegant, with shades of gold everywhere. Stairs helped to reach the highest books, and it still had books on shelves in a mezzanine. There were huge sofas in the center of the room, with lamps next to them.

“Ida told me that you spent this week reading, so I thought maybe that would help pass the time. Here we have classics from world literature, unique editions and some more common, more current books.” Jennifer stared at the demon, hoping that he would explain why they were there. “I know you like to draw, so there are some drawing materials on that table.” Crowley showed her the giant mountain of pencils, pens, papers and everything Jen always thought to buy for her drawings, but never had the opportunity – or money to. Jen stared at everything. “This place here is yours. This library is yours. I hope you liked it.”

For a few seconds Jennifer tried to find words to thank him for that great gift. She felt she had done nothing to deserve it, but it was all so beautiful, so well thought out, so thoughtful... And as she found no words to say, Jen simply turned towards the demon, put her arms around him and hugged him tightly, smiling, while saying "thank you".

For a moment, Crowley was taken aback; he didn't imagine this reaction coming from the girl. Probably not offering that much wine next time, he thought to himself. It had been a long time since anyone had hugged him, or since he had hugged anyone. Although it was something so simple, he was not even sure if he still knew how to hug someone. Then, slowly, he wrapped his arms around the girl’s body, who still held him tight and now rested her head on his shoulder. Still awkwardly, Crowley patted the young woman on the back until she separated herself from him. He felt relieved to get out of the awkward moment, but the moment Jennifer left him, he missed her warmth.

“All of this is perfect. Thank you. I don't know how I could ever repay.” Jen said smiling.

“Knowing that you liked it is more than enough payment, love.” Crowley replied.

Jen started looking between the shelves at the specimens that were there, and Crowley watched her from the same place he was when the girl hugged him. Jennifer occasionally smiled at him as she explored the library, and despite momentarily smiling back, he was not feeling well. He was confused and felt he needed to get away from Jen.

“Jennifer, I need to go. Good night.”

Jen didn't even have time to answer before he disappeared into thin air. Although she was a little upset that he left so suddenly, Jen put that aside and continued to walk around her new library.

Arriving at his office, Crowley poured himself a drink, but was unable to drink a single drop. The only thing he could think of was how long it has been since someone showed genuine affection towards him as Jennifer had just done. The glass with two ice cubes sunk in whiskey was heating up in his hand and he didn’t seem to care, he was lost in his thoughts. He was worried, worried because somehow he felt that that hug was the beginning of something much bigger.


	22. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, I wrote this and post it without giving it a second look, so it might have too many gramatical errors and typos. Sorry.
> 
> I hope you like it <3

Moments after Crowley's abrupt departure, Jennifer complained about Ida's voice. She didn't expect to see the demon at that time, usually after dinner, she only saw Ida the next morning.

“Are not you going to sleep?” Ida asked.

“Soon, there is so much to see in here. It's incredible!”

“I imagined you'd like it.”

“Did you know about this?” Jen asked surprised.

“Who do you think helped King Crowley to do this?!” Ida kept her characteristic smile.

“Thank you, Ida. It's all very beautiful.”

“It was a pleasure, but it was the King’s idea, I only helped with some details.”

Jen just smiled at the demon and retired to her room to sleep.

After lying in bed, Jen was still hearing Ida's words saying that Crowley was the one who had the idea of creating a place just for her; that was enough to lull her sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jennifer now spent most of her time reading or drawing in her library, there were days when Ida had to wake Jen up to go to bed, because she fell asleep on the couch or on the floor while reading.

One of those late nights where Jen was still entertained with her books, she heard a distinct knock on the door and Crowley entered the library; An unreadable smile on his face a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses in the other.

“Good night, dear. Am I interrupting something?”

“No, not at all, please.” Jen stood up, quickly adjusting the long sleeves of her dress that were rolled up.

Crowley took a moment to appreciate the girl. He realized that over the days, her way of dressing was different, more formal, and more elegant. A positive change from the jeans he saw her in several times, she was living there for only a month, but he could see some difference from the young woman under the wings of the Winchesters, to the woman in front of him. He wasn't sure what the difference was, but he was sure that it existed.

“Join me for a drink?” Crowley asked, lifting the wine bottle.

Jen nodded in response. The demon poured the wine, offering the girl a glass; she took it and sat on the sofa. Crowley sat in the chair opposite the sofa where Jen was. The girl was looking at him curiously.

“How's your night going?” Crowley asked.

“Very good, and yours?”

“You are being the highlight of my whole day, dear.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. You are a great highlight, difficult to beat.”

Jen just smiled in response to the demon's comment. Over time, Jennifer was getting used to Crowley's flirtatious comments and she was getting good at ignoring a big part of them.

Silence reigned for a few moments. Jen continued to read in silence, waiting for Crowley to say something, but he busied himself with studying his wine glass.

“I thought you drank only whiskey.” Jennifer said.

“I prefer whiskey, yes, but I can appreciate anything as long as it is special.” Crowley said with a tone and a malicious smile that made Jen shiver. Maybe she wasn't so good at ignoring the demon's comments after all.

“I see ...” Jen turned to her book. But before resuming her reading, she noticed a different expression on the demon. It was like he was ... Tired? Jennifer wasn't even sure if demons could get tired.

“Would you like to tell me how your day was?” Jen asked carefully, thinking that talking might be good for the demon. Crowley just raised an eyebrow in response to the girl's unusual question. “It's just, don't take it the wrong way, but you look tired, that's all...” She added, afraid to appear nosy.

“Are you worried about me, Jennifer?” Crowley asked rhetorically with a new expression so fierce that it made Jen look away embarrassed in another direction. “No need to worry, doll. Demons are tiring, that's all.”

“Can I help you with something?”

“Unless you can make demons less stupid, I'm afraid not, dear."

“Well, if there's anything I can do ... It's not like I'm too busy around here.” Jen said reassuringly.

For a moment, Crowley stared at the girl. He was determined to find something that showed that she was lying, that she was pretending to be worried. She seemed to be telling the truth, but he couldn't quite trust her yet. Then the idea of a test crossed his mind:

“Come with me to a meeting.” Crowley said. If the girl was telling the truth, he would be able tell. If she tried to help him, and tried to tolerate demons, even if only for a short time, she really had no malice.

“Sure, when?”

“Tomorrow morning. The meetings take place outside this house, so I will come and get you.”

“Well then, if I have to wake up early, I'll go to bed, if you don't mind.” Jen said getting up.

“I don’t mind at all.” Crowley replied also getting up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Crowley was at Jennifer's door waiting for her to go to the meeting. When Jennifer left her room, Crowley couldn't stop admiring her. The social outfit consisting of a black pencil skirt with suspenders, a dark blue blouse with long puffed sleeves and heels made the girl look beautiful. And although Crowley particularly preferred Jen's hair down, even the ponytail she tied her hair suited her.

“You look radiant, Jennifer.” The way he said her name made Jen smile.

Without another word, he took the girl by the hand and teleported them both to the entrance to a large room. Crowley guided her into the room. The place was beautiful, well lit, all in dark colors, black and brown predominating everything, and with golden details. A large golden chandelier with crystals descended from the ceiling that was so high that it was almost impossible to see. In the middle of the room was a huge throne of carved dark wood and a wine-colored seat and back.

To the right of Crowley's throne, she saw a large, dark leather armchair. The armchair had an executive appearance, but no less sumptuous like everything else.

“This is your seat, darling.” He guided her to the chair. “Brace yourself because the meetings are terribly tedious.” Crowley said with an exasperated tone.

Jen laughed off the comment and sat down. The demon explained how the meetings worked - Demons complain, and he tries to resolve it. When Crowley said the meeting was going to start in a few minutes, Jennifer started to get nervous, the words Ida said to her that morning echoed in her head “When you get there, don't bow down to anyone. You a guest of the King, they are just demons, minions. Do not show fear. I will be there if you need anything, and the King clearly is not going to let anything bad happen to you. ” As soon as the doors opened and the demons started to enter, she felt the air stop entering her lungs, but Jen was successfully trying to stay as serious as possible.

Jennifer wasn't sure if the meeting had been going on for thirty minutes or thirty days. The subjects were tedious; things that possibly the demons themselves would be able to solve on their own if they tried a little harder. She could see clearly why Crowley was always so stressed out with demons, and he had the absolute right to.

Since the beginning of the meeting, a demon, with long hair and light eyes, sitting in a place in the first rows of chairs stared at Jennifer's direction. The demon's gaze was making her feel extremely uncomfortable. She didn't know what he was thinking, but it certainly wasn't a good thing.

It was in a moment of silence, all the demons reading the new memos that had been handed out. And that was the moment when the demon that stared Jennifer all the time decided to express his discontent:

“This is unacceptable.” He stood in front of Jen who read one of the copies of the demons' memo.

Jen stopped reading to watch the demon.

“What do you do here?”He said pointing to Jennifer who had no expression on her face. “I and everyone else know that you are the Scouts’ kid, but if the King has no plans to use you to get the Code, why are you still here?” The demon had managed to get Crowley’s attention; he arranged himself on his throne and began to listen carefully to what the other demon said. “You are a mortal, I do not trust mortals, I do not like mortals, and here is not your place.”

Jennifer looked directly at Crowley who seemed to digest the words he had just heard. Looking at Ida, who was sitting across from her, she could hear Ida whispering "Don't bow down.” Crowley was about to say something to the demon when Jennifer stood up and said, raising her voice:

“I am not here for you, or anyone, to like me. I am here because your king, our king, so desires. Now, if you have a problem with this, talk to him directly, I guarantee that he will be more than happy to talk about how you don't trust his judgment.”After saying that, Jennifer sat down again. Looking at Ida, the demon discretely smiled at her, and that gave her a little rest.

The demon was now looking at Crowley, who had an incredulous expression on his face and an almost invisible smile. The demons whispering and brought him back to the room.

“Well, Neidan, there you have it, that's it, exactly what she said. Any doubts?” Crowley asked the demon who had rebelled.

"No, my King.” The demon Neidan replied with his head bowed.

“Very well then, you can leave us.”

“Yes my king.” Neidan left the room, but not before giving Jennifer a deadly look.

The meeting carried on normally, but Crowley couldn't help looking at the girl from time to time with a little admiration in his eyes. He didn't imagine that the girl would be able to impose herself that way, and despite being a novelty, it was a very welcome novelty. He had tested her, and now he had no doubt that she aced the test.


	23. Reasons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

After the meeting, Crowley stayed behind tying some loose and Jennifer went back to her room with Ida.

Already in her room, Jen sat on the bed, relieved to be away from the other demons.

“You did great today.” Ida said with a smile on her face, sitting at the end of the bed.

“Wasn't it a little too much?” Jen said untying her hair.

“It was perfect, you imposed yourself and did not accept what he said. This is the first point dealing with demons. If you give in just once, you lose all respect.”

“I won’t lie, I was scared.” Jen said with embarrassment.

“The important thing is that you didn't show it.”

“I just don’t understand why that demon hates me so much.”

“Jen, he doesn't hate you. Neidan is just an idiot. In fact, he needed a good scolding for some time.

“If he didn't hate me then, he probably hates me now.”

“You're right about that. But you have nothing to worry about.” The demon said with a smile.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

It was late afternoon, or so Ida had said. Jennifer hadn't seen the sun in almost a month and hours were confusing in Hell. Jen had spent the rest of the day in her library, Ida was with her and they were talking and laughing when Crowley came in and sat across from Jennifer. Ida with a slight bow left the two alone after Crowley whispered something to the demon.

Jennifer looked at Crowley curiously as he read a book he made appear in his hands. No words left the demon's mouth for minutes, and with every minute of silence, Jen worried about what he would say when he had something to say. She was worried, he was probably waiting for the right moment to yell at her for yelling at one of his demons, "He must have felt like I had taken his authority away." Jen thought to herself, still waiting for Crowley to say something.

A glass of scotch appeared in Crowley's hands and he put the book aside, now he was also studying the girl that because of his gaze, was awkwardly looking at another part of the room. While Crowley made Jennifer blush with his gaze, Ida returned, pushing a cart with their dinner; pasta and wine, ready for them to have dinner. The demon promptly dismissed Ida and poured wine for both of them, and offered Jennifer the plate of food.

“You did well today, Jennifer, better than I could imagine.” Crowley said with a smile. Jen let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding. Apparently, Crowley was not mad at her. That was enough to put the girl's mind at ease.

“I thought you'd be mad.”

“Because of the incident with Neidan ?! The bastard deserved that and more. He is the perfect example of most demons: too much anger, too little brain. I believe that you managed to realize that today.”

“I don't know how you manage to do that every day.” Jen answered honestly.

“It's like Shakespeare would say ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’ Or something like that.” Crowley said smiling to himself, satisfied with his reference.

Jen smiled in response and continued her meal.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Dinner was over some time ago, but Crowley and Jennifer were still talking.

“Tell me, Jennifer, you have been here for almost a month, don't you miss being at ’top side’?”

“Not really.”

“Don’t you miss even your mother?”

“She was always hunting, so it's not like we spend a lot of time together, anyway. I wish we did, but it doesn’t really matter anymore.” Jen said in a slightly sad tone. Crowley nodded, agreeing with Jennifer.

“I hope your time here has been pleasant.” Crowley said changing the subject.

“It's ... It's strange to say it out loud, but I feel free here, more than anywhere else.”

Crowley gave a low laugh, looking at Jennifer with tired eyes: 

“Hell does have that power. I felt that way too when I first ended up here. Of course, Hell was very different at the time, but even so ... Without worldly things it is a good place to find your own self.”

“Has it been a long time since you died?”

“A few hundred years. I became a demon shortly after.”

“Did you also sell your soul?”

“Didn't the Winchesters tell you the details of my pact? They love to tell this story ...” Crowley looked at Jennifer, who was blushing looking away. It was clear that the boys had told her the story, and as Crowley had put it, they really loved to tell that story. But Jen chose to pretend that she didn't know what the demon was talking about.

“No need to pretend, dear, I know they told you, it's written all over your face, and in your mind too ...” Crowley said with a malicious tone as he made his glass of wine turn into a glass of Craig. “But they didn't tell you the whole story.”

Jen listened to every word of the demon that shifted frequently in his chair, as if he were uncomfortable with what he was saying. He told Jennifer about his childhood, about how his mother abandoning him when he was very young, and what it was like to survive alone centuries ago in Scotland. Crowley shared a lot about his life, until he touched on why he became a demon.

“As you already know, I was a tailor. I had a small shop in the city, I didn't have too many customers, but I was good at what I did, I should have been more recognized. I had this regular customer who went to the store at least once a week to order new clothes. Everyone knew my reputation over there and treated me differently, not that it mattered anyway, but she never treated me as less. She had what I envied the most: serenity. She always had a smile on her face, and even on bad days, her presence alone was enough to light up that old place. She was witty, kind and married to one of the most important men in town. For a long time she was everything I wanted, and you can imagine my surprise when a man who had just arrived in town appeared in my shop, saying that his job was to make wishes come true. I was reticent at first, to say the least, but after a little conversation he convinced me, I could have what I always wanted. When I told him what I wanted, his expression changed, he was serious at first but started to laugh. He said how pathetic my request was, how pathetic I was, and that my request was not even worth the energy he would have to use. After laughing a little more, he told me to choose something else, I didn't know what to choose and then ... Well, the rest you already know.” Crowley stared at the floor with an empty expression, not sure if he wanted to face Jennifer at that moment, she would probably laugh, just like that demon did so many years ago. When Crowley took courage enough and looked at Jennifer, the girl had tears in her eyes, it was clear that Jennifer was holding herself back from crying.

“What was her name?” Jen asked.

“Elinor. I used to call her Ellie ...” The demon replied.

“Ellie ...” Jen murmured trying to dry a tear that insisted on running before Crowley could see it. The demon noticed it, but said nothing. To Jen it all seemed very sad, she knew what it was like to live alone, but she was never abandoned, and she knew that no matter how far her parents were, they were always looking after her. She never fell in love, nor had her heart broken. And although she sometimes felt lost, she knew she was never really alone. She couldn't imagine everything Crowley had been through, and just the fact that he was still there, being the King of Hell, said a lot about the strength he had, she couldn't think of anything other than how sad she was for him.

“Crowley, I'm sorry.” She said simply.

Crowley raised his eyebrows. That was all Jen managed to say. Silence reigned, and neither of them wanted to say anything. Crowley looked uneasy and all he said in response to the girl was:

“There is no need for that, dear, but I do appreciate the intention. You should go to sleep, it's quite late. I have a few things to tie up. Call Ida if you need anything. Good night.”

Before he heard Jennifer's reply, which had been a confused expression on her face, Crowley was already in his room, his features that usually showed confidence, now full of concern.

With a glass of scotch in his hand, Crowley bowed his head in defeat: "What the hell are you doing?" he asked himself, waiting for an answer that never came. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... This is taking longer than I first imagined. When I first started to write this, I honestly thought it would be over waaaay before the show's end. But I've been through a lot of blocks and lack of inspiration. I just love Cowley so much and he is so important to me that I would feel bad rushing my witing and writing him tottaly out of character (I'm trying my best to write him the right way). I know where I want this to go, but I'm facing a little hard time to get there. I think most of my hard time is because I want to write a bad guy being all cute and not wrtiting him out of character. Now the show is over, and I'm a bit depressed about it, but I want to finish this in about one month. I have about 10 more chapters planned, so if you enjoyed reading this fiction this far, I just wanted to thank you, and say to stay tuned because I'm going to finish this as fast as I can.
> 
> Lots of love!!


	24. An Accident - I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Still in his room, Crowley paced back and forth. He had already drunk so many bottles of scotch that if he was a mortal, alcohol would probably have killed him already. His head was spinning, and he couldn't focus his thoughts.

Despite telling himself that the situation was under control, Crowley was uncomfortable, Jennifer made him uncomfortable. He had no idea why.

Clearly a human alive in the middle of Hell was uncomfortable, not only for him, but for all the other demons. It was no surprise that earlier that day Neidan had acted like the idiot he is. For days, Crowley had been waiting for the demon to do something stupid enough to justify killing him, but when that happened, Jennifer was around, and Crowley refused to kill in front of the girl. In the end, he didn't even have to. Jennifer dealt with it by herself. Remembering how she acted made him smile. He liked seeing the strength in her eyes and the energy in her voice, but he liked seeing the scare on the face of the imbecile demon even more. It was strange to think that until recently he thought that Jennifer had no personality. The more he got to know her the more he was surprised by her nuances.

But what surprised the King of Hell that particular day was not the way Jennifer dealt with the rebel demon during the meeting, but the tear she tried to hide when he told her about his human life. He wondered what the reason was, and to imagine that it could be empathy, that someone had the ability to feel something for him, made him feel ... Different, vulnerable.

Perhaps even a little more vulnerable than he would like.

Crowley prided himself on never have had given power to anyone by sharing more of himself than necessary. In his almost four hundred years of life he met many people, people of all kinds and he had never let his guard down. Apparently, that had just changed.   
Crowley had not only told the girl things that could be used against him if she wanted to, but he told things that he never had the courage to say even to himself aloud. For a few seconds he wondered if Jennifer had any kind of power that made people tell her personal things, and then he made sure to continue with only plausible thoughts.

The truth was, he said what he said because Jennifer heard him. Nobody ever stopped to listen to him. In fact, it seemed that if he didn't shout loud enough for all the souls in Hell to hear him, no one would ever pay attention. The idea of having someone to listen to him even when he didn't change his tone of voice seemed pleasant. Crowley was tired of shouting.

'Tired' was the key word. The demons always expected something from their King, be it orders, rewards, or punishment. Crowley was tired of his demons. Crowley was tired of Hell. And as much as it hurt to admit, Crowley was tired of the crown.

Over time, defending his throne became more and more difficult, and the King's will to engage in battle became less and shorter. That was exactly why Crowley needed the Scout Code. With that book, defending his throne would no longer be a problem, because no one would dare think of taking away his power.

Crowley squeezed the glass in his hands until it almost cracked. The young Scout had been in his domain for about a month and he had not yet put his plan into practice. He had it all clear in his mind: Make it look like Jennifer was at risk making her mother hand over the book in exchange for her daughter's safety. Despite telling himself that he didn't have time to do this, Crowley knew he was deliberately postponing doing it. The idea of betraying young Jennifer's trust seemed wrong. Jennifer was a good girl, she had a good heart, and using her only as a means to an end was appalling. Since she arrived, the young woman had not caused any problems, or disrespected him. On the contrary, she always seemed willing to hear him talk about his problems and share a drink with him. Using the girl as disposable didn't seem fair, and Crowley wanted to be good to her. Or rather, he didn't want to. He didn't want to because "demons are evil by nature and never want to be better, for anything or anyone, right? Right? ... Right!" That was what Crowley told himself.

The truth was that the King of Hell was divided. Dealing with conflicting feelings was never Crowley's forte, and now he knew that sooner or later, he would need to organize his life, his thoughts, review his priorities ... May it be sooner, then.

Crowley took a sip of the drink that was heating up in his hands, determined to protect his throne and his power. Throwing the glass away, making it shatter on the floor, Crowley got up from the bed and left his room resolutely. However, when the demon stepped into the hall he heard a shout coming from Jennifer’s room… 


	25. An Accident - II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it <3

Appearing at Jennifer’s bedroom door Crowley burst in suddenly. He saw Ida lying on the floor, almost passed out, and saw Neidan pushing Jennifer against the wall, holding her by the neck, squeezing as hard as he could. Jen futilely tried to fight the demon's strength. The sound of the door slamming as it opened drew Neidan's attention, which allowed Jennifer to escape. When the demon realized that it was the King at the door, the demon froze in place.

Crowley approached him with slow steps. When he got close enough, he inhaled deeply and stared at the rebellious underling.

“Of all the stupid things you could have done, this was by far the stupidest of all.” Crowley said between clenched teeth and red eyes. Neidan's eyes widened and he looked for an excuse:

“But my king, she is a mortal in Hell, I thought that ...” The demon stammered in fright.

“I don't care what you thought, I don't know what you thought, and I don't even need to know what you thought to know for sure that you were wrong.” Crowley said shouting.

"Trying to hurt her," he said, looking briefly at Jennifer, "is the same as trying to hurt me." In fact, it's even worse because she has no way to defend herself against a demon.

“My King, I'm sorry.” The demon begged.

“Oh, you will be. But first I want you to understand that your mistake was not being pathetic, weak, or a complete idiot. Your mistake was trying to hurt someone who is under my protection.” Crowley said almost whispering to the demon.

With a gesture of his hands, Crowley made the demon squirm in smoke, a horrible gagging noise filled the silence of the room and the demon continued to squirm and make unpleasant sounds until he disappeared completely in a cloud of smoke.

Looking for Jennifer, Crowley saw her standing next to Ida, helping her to her feet. When Ida was already on her feet, she explained that Neidan appeared in the room looking very angry, she tried to protect Jennifer, but failed and Neidan attacked the young woman, saying that "she was not in the right place". After making sure Ida was all right, Crowley dismissed her and went to check on Jennifer, who was sitting in the corner of her bed, with no expression on her face.

“Jennifer, is everything alright?” Crowley asked.

“Thanks to you.” Jennifer said without even changing the tone of her voice.

“You don’t need to be afraid. I guarantee that what happened today will not be repeated.”

Jen shook her head in understanding. Wiping away her few frightened tears and Crowley felt the need to go to her, but he held himself back.

“After all this you should sleep, darling. It’s late.” Crowley said.

“I think I can't sleep right now.” Jen said with a sad look.

“Can't sleep because you're not tired, or because you're scared?” Crowley asked, arching an eyebrow.

“A bit of both.” Jen spoke honestly while looking at the floor. Crowley studied her for a moment before coming to a conclusion:

“You don't want to stay in your room, do you? At least not now, not tonight.”

“I'll stay in the library tonight, if that's okay.” Jen said while picking up her pillow and covers. Crowley watched her for a second while she collected her things. He knew he would regret it, but the need to act was stronger:

“Nonsense. You will not spend the night sleeping on a sofa.” The demon said wrapping Jennifer in his arms and transporting them to his own room.

Jennifer took a few seconds to regain her balance. She looked around and saw a room similar to hers, but with darker colors, less light and more sumptuous. She looked at Crowley questioningly.

“This is my bedroom. You will spend the night in here. You can sleep and I'll be around if you need anything.” Jennifer shook her head in consent.

“I apologize, darling; I didn't imagine we would get to that. I didn't think the idiot would have the courage to do anything against you. I’m the one to blame for you getting hurt.” Crowley said looking at the bruise that the demon's hands left on Jennifer's neck.

“I didn't get hurt. It's okay, really. I just ... I was a little scared, that's all. I'm sorry for causing all this.” Jennifer said trying to dry some tears that streamed down her face.

“No need to apologize. You are not to blame for anything. Just ... try to rest, okay?” Crowley said touching the young woman's face with a shaking hand, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and drying the girl's tears. Jen shyly approached the demon and hugged him, gently placing her face against his shoulder. She whispered words of gratitude. Jen was grateful to have Crowley around. Jen knew she could count on him, and she knew that with Crowley around, she was protected. Crowley was reticent to hug the young woman back, but after a few moments, he allowed himself to pull her close and gently run a hand up and down on the girl's back. Jennifer stepped away from him for a moment and looked the demon in the eye. The expression that Crowley usually carried on his face had been replaced by one of uncertainty. To Jennifer, the King of Hell seemed in doubt about what to do next, but Crowley knew exactly what he wanted to do, he just hadn't decided whether to do it or not, and on an impulse, which Crowley would later classify as childish, he approached Jennifer, placed his hands on either side of the girl's face and gently touched the girl's lips with his. Jennifer responded to the kiss instantly, putting her arms around the demon's neck. For a few seconds, there were only the two of them, alone in the whole world. Jennifer felt protected and was no longer afraid, Crowley felt that he was doing something right for the first time in a long time, and so the two stayed there, enjoying each other for as long as they could.

Crowley was the first to break the kiss. He looked at Jennifer who was now looking at him with a small smile on her face. Crowley's tender look at the girl did not take much more than a few seconds to disappear after he realized what had happened.

And with a generic excuse about having to do something, or finish something, Crowley finished installing Jennifer in his room and left without much explanation, went straight to his office, leaving a confused Jennifer behind.

Again with a glass of scotch in hand, Crowley told himself that the kiss was just an accident, that it was not supposed to happen, but while Jennifer looked at him, he just couldn't resist. He couldn't resist her eyes, he couldn't resist her lips, and he couldn't resist Jennifer's existence. He knew that what he was doing was dangerous, getting involved with someone, a mortal who was also the daughter of hunters. But Crowley was attracted to the young woman from the first moment he saw her. And being there with her, at that moment, felt so right that he had no doubts about there being where he always wanted to be; in a place where he felt wanted.

Feeling bad about leaving Jennifer alone so abruptly, Crowley left his office determined, determined not to think too much about what had just happened or how he felt, and determined to embrace the moments when he felt most than a demon, that he felt like a person, like someone worthy of good things.   
Back in his room, Jennifer was already asleep. So Crowley gently lay down on the edge of the bed and watched her sleep for a few minutes. With the movement in the bed, Jen turned and unconsciously snuggled against the demon's body, Crowley smiled to himself wondering how someone could sleep so peacefully in the middle of Hell, and moved a lock of hair that was covering the girl's face.   
There, at that moment, Crowley came to the conclusion that Hell could wait, the Code Scout could wait, because for the first time in centuries he had something truly important to take care of.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.


End file.
